A senior Muslim Brotherhood leader insisted on Thursday that sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi would continue nationwide even if the main sit-ins in Cairo and Giza were dispersed by force.

"The Interior Ministry's warning would lead to no breakthrough or a solution of the crisis," Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Anadolu Agency in Rab'a al-Adaweya.

"If the protests in Rab'a al-Adaweya Square and Nahda Square were dispersed forcibly, all squares nationwide would become sit-in sites."

On Thursday, the Interior Ministry urged Morsi supporters in Cairo's Rab'a al-Adaweya and Giza's Nahda to leave "quickly" in order to ensure their safety, vowing a "safe exit" and full protection for departing protesters.

However, the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, a coalition made up mostly of Islamist parties and groups that demand Morsi's reinstatement rejected the ministry's demands.

Al-Erian reiterated the Brotherhood's stance that there would be no talks until the protesters' demand – Morsi's reinstatement – was met.

The government, on Wednesday, said that the continuation of the two main pro-Morsi sit-ins posed a threat to national security and that the interior minister had been mandated to take "all necessary measures" to defend social peace and security.

Morsi's supporters have been holding daily mass demonstrations and sit-ins nationwide since his removal by the army on July 3 to demand his reinstatement.

The two largest sit-ins have been in Rab'a al-Adaweya Square in eastern Cairo and Nahda Square in Giza.

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Sit-in protests in Rabi'a al-Adaweya Square

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