US urges army to free Morsi, supporters defiant

CAIRO, July 13 (AFP) -The United States on Friday called on Egypt's military to free deposed president Mohamed Morsi, as tens of thousands of his supporters vowed to keep fighting for his reinstatement.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States agreed with Germany's earlier appeal for Morsi to be released and was "publicly" making the same request.

The deposed Islamist president has been held in a "safe place," according to Egypt's interim leader, and has not been seen in public since his ouster on July 3.

Psaki said Washington wanted "an end to restrictions on Mr Morsi's whereabouts", while Germany suggested a trusted institution such as the International Committee of the Red Cross should be granted access to him.

Rival demonstrators rallied in the capital on Friday, but while there had been fears of fresh violence, the evening passed off peacefully.

As night fell on Cairo, tens of thousands of Islamist protesters prayed and broke their fast together with an iftar meal on the first weekend of the holy month of Ramadan.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square and outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace meanwhile, hundreds of antiMorsi protesters sat down for their own iftar meal.

Morsi's supporters had spent the day protesting outside the Rabaa alAdawiya mosque in the Nasr City neighbourhood.

They held Egyptian flags and Korans, and chanted slogans against the military coup that unseated Egypt's first freely elected president.

"We will continue to resist," key Islamist leader Safwat Hegazi told Friday's crowd.

"We will stay one or two months, or even one or two years. We won't leave here until our president, Mohamed Morsi, comes back,"Hegazi demanded Morsi's reinstatement, immediate parliamentary elections and a committee to oversee a plan for national reconciliation.

Mohamed Yousry, a teenager at the rally, said: "I'll leave as a dead body.

"We will defend Morsi with our blood."The Muslim Brotherhood posted online a picture of a leaflet it said a military helicopter had been dropping on protesters. The leaflets assured them they were safe, but warned them not to approach military installations.

Thousands also massed in support of Morsi outside the University of Cairo, watched over by a heavy security presence.

US President Barack Obama discussed Egypt's crisis during a phone call Friday with Saudi King Abdullah, a White House statement said.

"They agreed that the United States and Saudi Arabia have a shared interest in supporting Egypt's stability," the statement said.

Obama also expressed "serious concern" about the violence in Egypt following the military overthrow of Morsi. He underscored the need to return to a democratically elected civilian government.