Egypt Islamists call mass demos despite president warning

CAIRO: Mohamed Morsi's backers planned rallies in Egypt on Friday for his reinstatement, as his army-appointed successor said opponents wanted to plunge the country into "the unknown" and the military vowed to confront violent protests.

The Islamists were to begin their pro-Morsi protests after weekly Friday prayers from 18 mosques across the capital, amid heightened political tensions more than two weeks after his overthrow in military coup on July 3.

The protesters were expected to converge at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in northeast Cairo, where Morsi's supporters have been camped since his ouster, and outside Cairo University, near the city centre.

"(It) will be a famous day, a very important day in the history of the Egyptian revolution," prominent Brotherhood member Farid Ismail told AFP.

Adly Mansour, who was installed as interim leader after the popularly backed coup, pledged to rein in those who wanted to push Egypt "into the unknown."

"We will fight the battle for security to the end. We will preserve the revolution," he said a speech Thursday night, in comments echoed by the army.

Although mostly peaceful, the protests by Morsi loyalists have resulted in clashes that have killed dozens of people since his ouster, with the unrest claiming more than one hundred lives altogether, according to an AFP tally

In the worst single incident, at least 53 people died, mostly Morsi supporters, during clashes with soldiers outside a Cairo army barracks where they believed the deposed president was being held.

The military on Thursday warned it would decisively confront any violence in the protests.

"The armed forces warn against any deviation from peaceful expressions of opinion, and the resort to violence," it said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"Whoever resorts to violence in Friday's protests will endanger his life, and will be treated with utmost decisiveness, within legal bounds," the statement added.

In his speech, Mansour offered an olive branch to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, saying: "The framework of justice and reconciliation extends to all."

The movement has categorically refused to recognise Mansour's caretaker government, which was sworn in earlier this week but with Islamist parties and movements totally absent.