Anti-Morsi protests in Egypt

Protesters demanding the resignation of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi are preparing for a second day of demonstrations on Monday 1 July.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians demonstrated in Cairo's central Tahrir Square and outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace on the night of 30 June, in the largest protests since the revolution that toppled the nearly three-decade regime of former president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Although the Cairo protests were largely peaceful, other largescale demonstrations across Egypt on 30 June resulted in at least 10 deaths.

The newly-established anti-Morsi Tamarod (Rebel) movement – one of the main groups behind the protests – has threatened to launch a nationwide civil-disobedience campaign if Morsi fails to announce his resignation and an early presidential election by 17.00 on Tuesday 2 July.

The scale of the protests and level of dissatisfaction with Morsi has prompted some political observers to speculate whether Egypt could be on the verge of another revolution. Protesters hold Morsi responsible for failing to deal with the country's increasingly weak economy and detoriorating security situation during his year-long tenure as president.

However Morsi's supporters, who have begun holding parallel protests, point to their leader's relatively short term in office and reminded the protesters that, unlike his predecessor, the Islamist Morsi was elected democratically.

Also on 30 June small-scale protests were held by Egyptian expatriates in European capitals such as London, Paris and Rome.

Washington has advised US citizens to "defer non-essential travel to Egypt at this time" because of unrest in the country.