CAIRO, May 17: Hundreds of people marched on Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday calling for Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to resign and demanding early elections, local media reported.

The demonstration was called by a number of opposition groups, including the Al Dustur party of former UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and the April 6 movement which spearheaded the 2011 uprising to oust the then president Hosni Mubarak.

Marches originated in various parts of the capital and were to converge on Tahrir Square, which was the focal point of the anti-Mubarak uprising.

At the head of one march people were carrying two large banners, one reading “an early presidential election” and the other “a unifying constitution for Egypt.”

Marchers from the Tamarod (rebellion) campaign, which claims to have garnered more than two million signatures demanding that Mr Morsi should resign, collected more names from people along the route.

State media said security had been beefed up around the interior ministry, close to Tahrir Square, as it has been the scene of violent confrontations in the past.

The opposition accuses Mr Morsi of governing only in the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood, while he insists he is the “president of all Egyptians”.

Since Mr Morsi was elected last June, Egypt has continued to suffer from a serious political and economic crisis, and there have often been frequent clashes, sometimes deadly, between his opponents and supporters.—AFP