CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian judges, long stripped of their independence by President Hosni Mubarak's regime, decided yesterday to boycott supervising an upcoming referendum and presidential election, the latest sign of discontent over the government's limited democratic reforms.

While the judges met, hundreds of pro-government and opposition protesters faced off nearby. "Down, down with Hosni Mubarak!" chanted about 500 members of the opposition Kifaya movement gathered at the journalists union.

An equal number of demonstrators outside the union gates carried banners reading "Yes to Mubarak" and chanted, "Traitors, get out of here!" to the Kifaya members. Some threw stones at the union building.

A judges' boycott would undermine the credibility of what the government has touted as a major democratic step: the opening of the September elections to multiple candidates for the first time after years of Mubarak running unopposed.

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