Several thousand supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi marched through downtown Cairo on Monday calling for his reinstatement and denouncing the army general who led his overthrow.

The protest took place as international envoys stepped up talks with leaders of both sides of the crisis in a bid to find a political solution and avert further bloodshed.

Marchers chanted "Morsi, Morsi" and "We are not terrorists", and waved picture of the ousted leader.

Some sprayed graffiti on walls and statues calling army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the overthrow of Morsi on July 3, a murderer and a traitor.

The protesters, nearly all men, marched 10 abreast and stretched back several blocks. Security forces made no immediate attempt to disperse a crowd estimated by reporters at several thousand strong.

The protest showed tension is still running high in Egypt more than a month after Morsi's removal despite the international mediation effort.

Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected president in June 2012, 16 months after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled for nearly 30 years.

But fears that he was trying to establish an Islamist autocracy coupled with a failure to ease economic hardships afflicting most of its 84 million people led to huge street demonstrations on June 30, triggering the army move.

The international mediation effort has so far helped contain further conflict between Morsi's backers and the security forces but has yet to broker a solution.

Thousands of Morsi supporters remain camped out in two Cairo sit-ins, which the government has declared a threat to national security and pledged to disperse. The army-backed interim government said on Sunday it would give mediation a chance but warned that time was limited.

Jail visit

In the early hours of Monday, the international envoys visited senior Muslim Brotherhood official Khairat El-Shater at Tora prison, south of Cairo, state news agency MENA reported.

The delegation included US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union envoy Bernardino Leon and was accompanied by members of the armed forces, according to Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

Shater is deputy leader of the group that propelled Morsi to office last year. Seen as the Brotherhood's political strategist, he was arrested after Morsi's downfall on charges of inciting violence.

Shater told the envoys he would only hold talks with them in the presence of Morsi because he was "the legitimate president", the newspaper reported.

(China Daily 08/06/2013 page12)