Morsi backers remain defiant in Egypt

Supporters of Egypt's deposed President Mohamed Morsi intensified protests Friday, calling for the reinstatment of the country's democratically elected leader and raising international concerns over the possibility of renewed violence.

Protesters defied warnings by Egypt's military-backed interim government that it would disperse demonstrators with force, pouring out of several Cairo mosques after evening prayers and heading towards their key Rabaa al-Adawiya protest site.

Thousands of protesters chanted "down with [the Commander of Armed Forces] Sisi, Morsi is our president," as they waved Egyptian flags and posters of the deposed leader.

In 6th of October City, a suburb of the capital, police fired tear gas to disperse Morsi's supporters after they tried to storm nearby Media Production City, where satellite-television channels are based, a security official said.

A security force helicopter flew overhead as ambulances sped into the area, and protesters threw gas canisters back towards the police, reported the AFP news agency. 

The latest demonstrations were a direct rebuke to authorities who have urged protesters to "let reason prevail" and end their weeks-long rallies in support of Morsi.

The president was deposed on July 3 by the Egyptian armed forces following massive protests against his rule and party, the Muslim Brotherhood.

The military quickly established a civilian government and called elections for next year, but Morsi supporters say they won't break up their massive street demonstrations until Morsi is returned to power.

State television on Friday said security authorities will impose a siege over the protest camps, a step before clearing them.

A crackdown on two Cairo sit-in sites, Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, will begin within 48 hours, Egypt TV reported. It said authorities will let people leave, but not allow anyone else in.

International rights organization Human Rights Watch warned Friday of a "bloodbath" if authorities were to bring an end to pro-Morsi rallies by force.

More than 130 Morsi supporters have been killed and hundreds of others injured since Morsi’s ouster. Last Saturday, an estimated 80 protesters, mostly Morsi supporters, were killed in clashes with security forces in one of the worst single crackdowns on a protest in Egypt's nearly three years of turbulence.

Diplomatic efforts to avoid further violence have gathered pace, with Bernardino Leon, the European Union's Middle-East envoy, and Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, both in Cairo to urge rival camps to find common ground.

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.

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.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Waleed al Haddad, a senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, pledged to remain on the streets until Morsi was restored to office.

"The people will not leave the squares all over Egypt. We are here for the restoration of legitimacy. ... We are offering our blood, our money, everything in order to restore [democracy]," he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry backed away Friday from his candid comments that seemed to signal American support for the Egyptian military and the ouster of Morsi.

The United States has tried hard not to appear as if it is taking sides in the crisis. But when Kerry said Thursday in Pakistan that the Egyptian military was "restoring democracy" in leading the July 3 takeover, it left the impression that the United States backed the military action.

Kerry moved quickly to defuse the flap, saying Friday that all parties -- the military as well as Morsi supporters -- needed to work toward a peaceful and "inclusive" political resolution of the crisis.

His backpedaling came after his comments were denounced by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which insists that Morsi is the legitimate leader of Egypt.

"Does Secretary Kerry accept Defense Secretary Hagel to step in and remove Obama if large protests take place in America?" Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, asked.

The flap over Kerry's remarks came at a bad time. Just as Kerry was in London trying to clarify his statement from the day before, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns was landing in Cairo to urge Egyptian leaders to avoid violence and help facilitate a political exit strategy to end the stalemate that has paralyzed Egypt and deeply divided the country.

It is unclear if Burns will meet Morsi, who has been kept out of sight since being overthrown.

"The last thing that we want is more violence," Kerry said before a meeting in London with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. "The temporary government has a responsibility with respect to demonstrators to give them the space to be able to demonstrate in peace. But at the same time, the demonstrators have a responsibility not to stop everything from proceeding in Egypt."

The Obama administration told lawmakers that it won't make an official declaration on whether Egypt's government overthrow was a coup. Making a legal determination that the Egyptian army had ousted Morsi in a coup would have triggered a suspension in the $1.3 billion in military aid the United States provides each year.

Conversely, a determination that a coup had not occurred would have flown in the face of the uncontested facts that the army removed Morsi from power and has detained him incommunicado in an undisclosed location for weeks.

Kerry also said that the United States was working with EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton and foreign ministers of other countries to try to find a way to help resolve the Egyptian crisis peacefully.

"The story of Egypt is not finished yet, so we have to see how it unfolds in the next days," Kerry said.

Al Jazeera and wire services