Egypt Ministry Urges Pro-Morsi Protesters to Disperse, Islamists Reject Appeal

Egypt's Interior Ministry urged supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday to evacuate their Cairo protest camps, promising them a "safe exit."

The ministry "calls on those in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave," it said in a statement, a day after the government ordered police to end the protests.

The ministry "pledges a safe exit and full protection to whoever responds to this appeal," the statement added.

In an earlier statement, the ministry said police commanders met to study how to move in against the protest camps, amid mounting international calls for restraint.

However, a coalition of Islamist groups announced that they reject the police appeal to quickly end their Cairo sit-ins.

"We are going to continue our peaceful sit-ins and our peaceful protests," Allaa Mostafa, a spokeswoman for the Anti Coup Alliance, told Agence France Presse.