Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
met the army chief and cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss how to stabilize the nation after clashes between his supporters and opponents outside
the presidential palace, the presidency said in a statement.
Morsi met General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who
is the head of the military and defense minister, as well as the prime
minister, interior and justice ministers, and others.
They discussed "means to deal with the
situation on different political, security and legal levels to stabilize Egypt
and protect the gains of the revolution", according to the statement
issued on Morsi's official website.
This as Morsi is due to address the nation on Thursday, the state-run Nile News TV said, quoting a presidential adviser. It gave no further details.
For his part, Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb demanded the postponement of the declaration of the Constitution and the start of national dialogue.
Meanwhile, Egypt's Republican Guard, which deployed around the presidential palace on Thursday, said demonstrators must evacuate the area by 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), the presidency said in a statement.
Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist supporters clashed on Wednesday night and Thursday morning during rival demonstrations that were sparked by Morsi's decision last month to expand his powers.
A Reuters witness said some of the hundreds of Morsi's backers who had camped overnight around the palace perimeter had started leaving before the deadline.
Earlier, The head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for unity on Thursday, saying divisions only served "the nation's enemies", his first public statement since clashes killed at least five people and wounded hundreds overnight.
"Our divisions and fragmentation only serve the nation's enemies," Mohamed Badie said in a statement published on the website of the group that propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election.
This after supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi hurled rocks at each other outside the presidential palace, over the heads of soldiers deployed there to protect the building, a Reuters witness said.
Soldiers urged both sides to stop and helped calm the flare-up.
Violence outside the palace that erupted on Wednesday had mostly abated by the early hours of Thursday. At least five people were killed and 350 wounded in the violence, the health ministry said.
Earlier, an Egyptian military deployment around the presidential palace aimed to secure the building, the state news agency reported on Thursday, following violent protests between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi in the area.
"The Republican Guard began a deployment around the headquarters of the presidency ... to secure the headquarters of the presidency in its capacity as a symbol of the state and the official headquarters of government," the agency reported.
Reuters witnesses counted at least five tanks and nine armored personnel carriers around the presidency. The Republican Guard is responsible for guarding presidential offices across the country.
On the other hand, Egypt's government must protect peaceful protesters and prosecute anyone inciting violence, including politicians, UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said on Thursday.
"People have the right to protest peacefully and they have the right not to be killed or injured for doing so. The current government came to power on the back of similar protests and so should be particularly sensitive to the need to protect protesters' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," Pillay said.
REUTERS