Morsi Backers Plan Fresh Rallies, Defy Egypt's Police

Islamist backers of Egypt's deposed President Mohammed Morsi staged defiant rallies on Friday, as police prepared to disperse their Cairo protest camps amid international appeals to avoid further bloodshed.

The new demonstrations came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Egypt's military had been "restoring democracy" when it deposed Morsi, in comments that prompted fury from the ousted leader's supporters.

European diplomats, meanwhile, continued to push for a peaceful resolution to the impasse that began after Morsi's July 3 ouster following massive protests against his rule.

Demonstrators began their marches after Friday prayers, pouring out of several Cairo mosques and heading towards their key Rabaa al-Adawiya site.

"Down with Sisi, Morsi is our president," thousands of protesters in one march chanted, waving Egyptian flags and posters of the deposed leader.

The demonstrations were a direct rebuke to authorities who have urged protesters to "let reason prevail" and return home.

They came a day after Kerry in an interview with Pakistan's Geo television appeared to defend Morsi's ouster.

"The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descent into chaos, into violence," he said.

"And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgment -- so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy," he added.

A spokesman for Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood denounced Kerry's comments, accusing Washington of being "complicit" in the coup.

"Is it the job of the army to restore democracy?" asked Gehad al-Haddad in a statement.

"Does Secretary Kerry accept Defense Secretary (Chuck) Hagel to step in and remove (U.S. President Barack) Obama if large protests take place in America?"

Morsi's supporters have remained defiant in the face of mounting threats from the army-installed interim government.

On Thursday, the Interior Ministry urged those at protest sites in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares "to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave".

The ministry pledged "a safe exit and full protection to whomever responds to this appeal".

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, quoting police sources, reported Friday that police have prepared a plan to end the sit-ins, but had not decided when to implement it, with the cabinet still hoping for a peaceful resolution.

The stand-off has raised fears of new violence. More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi's ouster.

Diplomatic efforts to avoid further bloodshed have gathered pace, with the European Union's Middle East envoy Bernardino Leon and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle both in Cairo to urge the rival camps to find common ground.

A senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, said the European envoys asked them to end their sit-ins.

"All the European delegates have the same message; they are pressuring the anti-coup protesters to disperse the sit-ins," said the official.

After meeting Brotherhood representatives, Westerwelle warned that the situation was "very explosive".

"We have seriously and adamantly pressured for a peaceful solution. I hope that those concerned have gotten the message," he said in a statement.

The United States had also warned against further violence, with Kerry saying in his interview that loss of life was "absolutely unacceptable".

Further raising tensions, three top Brotherhood leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, are to be referred to trial for incitement to murder.

Egypt's interim government also faces an increase in militant attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where gunmen on Thursday shot dead a policeman in the northern town of El-Arish.

Morsi himself has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offenses when he broke out of prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

He was detained hours after the coup and is being held at an undisclosed location, where his family has been unable to see him.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Morsi on Tuesday, later telling reporters he was "well".