Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi thronged the Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in Cairo in the early hours of Monday (August 12), remaining defiant against a warning that Egyptian police were set to take action against them imminently.

Demonstrators waved flags, danced and chanted along to a throng of drums being banged.

Egyptian police are expected to start taking action early on Monday against Morsi supporters who are gathered in crowded protest camps in Cairo, security and government sources have said, a move which could trigger more bloodshed.

The sites are the main flashpoints in the confrontation between the army, which toppled Morsi last month, and supporters who demand his reinstatement.

Western and Arab mediators and some senior Egyptian government officials have been trying to persuade the army to avoid using force against the protesters, who at times can number as much as tens of thousands.

Morsi's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement on Sunday (August 11) criticising any plans by "coup makers" to interfere with their right to protest and calling on international rights groups to visit their camps to see how peaceful they were.

Egypt