World Bulletin / News Desk

A senior US state department official arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss democratization and human rights issues as demonstrations mount, highlighting growing tensions between protesters and supporters of the country's president, Mohamed Morsi.

Michael Posner, Assistant secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, is set to meet with political party leaders, civil society representatives and dialogue groups between religions to talk about democratization, human rights in the country ahead of a controversial referendum on a new constitution which anti-Morsi protesters want postponed.

Media reports said anti-Morsi protesters had set a blockade around a government service building in Cairo's Tahrir Square after gunmen fired on them earlier Tuesday, wounding 10.