(Reuters) Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi rallied in a protest camp around a Cairo mosque on Friday, defying warnings from the army-installed government that they should give up and leave.
Leaders of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood mounted a stage at the Rabaa al-Adawiya site to demand that he brought back to power.
"Soldier, your place is not in politics," senior official Ahmed Aref said as the people pumped fists in the air.
Despite international concern that a violent confrontation was imminent, security forces were nowhere to be seen.
But in the rural province of Fayoum, police broke up clashes between several hundred supporters and opponents of Mursi with teargas, security sources said. Seven protesters and five policemen were hurt.
And in separate incidents in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya, four people were injured in fights between pro-Mursi protesters and residents near an army base, state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said. Thirteen Mursi supporters were arrested.
The Rabaa camp in northeast Cairo is the major potential flashpoint of the political crisis brought on by the military overthrow of the Islamist Mursi and establishment of an interim government five weeks ago.
Crowds chanted "Down with the coup, the coup is terrorism" as thousands streamed in from other mosques in columns.
Security forces have warned the protesters to leave peacefully or face action. But the camp has been turned into a virtual fortress, protected by sandbag-and-brick barricades.
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