CAIRO — Riot police officers fired brief rounds of tear gas on Tuesday night at tens of thousands of demonstrators outside the presidential palace protesting the Islamist-backed draft constitution. It was the clearest evidence yet that the new charter has only widened the divisions that have plagued Egypt since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.

Eleven newspapers stopped publication for the day on Tuesday to protest limits on the new constitution’s protections for freedom of expression. At least three private television networks said they would go dark on Wednesday. By Tuesday night, demonstrators had also filled Tahrir Square and taken to the streets in Alexandria, Suez and several other Egyptian cities.

President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters say the constitution establishes a new democracy, not a theocracy. But while it does not impose religious rule, his opponents say, it does not preclude it, either. They say it contains major loopholes in individual liberties, could enable Muslim religious authorities to wield new influence and still leaves too much power in the hands of the president.