{{After violence in Egypt that killed three people including an American student, cities were quiet as protesters prepared for rallies on Sunday they hope can unseat the Islamist president.}}
The army was on alert across the country and warned it would step in if deadlocked politicians lost control of the streets.
Several offices of President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood were attacked on Friday, including one in Alexandria where two men died, including a 21-year-old American man. In Port Said on the Suez Canal, an explosion during an anti-Mursi protest killed another man, police said.
The United States, which has called for compromise, is evacuating non-essential diplomatic staff and warning citizens to avoid Egypt. A source at Cairo airport said dozens of U.S. personnel and their families left for Germany on Saturday.
In Cairo, a few hundred activists from rival factions were camping out in separate places. Islamist supporters were still outside a suburban mosque where they had gathered in the many thousands on Friday to vent anger and fear over a return of army-backed rule. Some speakers also urged reconciliation.
On Tahrir Square, seat of the uprising of early 2011, flags and tents formed a base camp for protesters.
They hoped for millions on the streets under slogans accusing Mursi and the Brotherhood of hijacking the revolution against Hosni Mubarak to entrench their own rule.
A rally was also planned outside the presidential palace, where some had already taken up position.
With short supplies of fuel adding to long-standing economic woes, many said they would turn out on Sunday, when Mursi marks his first year in office as Egypt’s first ever freely elected leader, to demand a new president who can bring them prosperity.
Liberal opposition leaders dismissed a offer of cooperation from Mursi this week as too little too late.
The Brotherhood, which says at least five of its supporters have been killed in days of street fighting, accuses liberals of allying with those loyal to Mubarak to mount a coup against the electoral process.
The opposition says the Brotherhood are trying to monopolize power, Islamise a diverse society and throttle dissent.
They cite as evidence Mursi’s broadsides against critical media and legal proceedings launched against journalists and satirists.
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