Qatar on Friday announced it has shipped a consignment of liquefied natural gas as aid for the Egyptian people, in its first such gesture since president Mohammed Morsi's overthrow.

State news agency QNA said the LNG shipment was loaded on Thursday and was headed for Egypt on a gas tanker.

Islamist backers of Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi staged defiant rallies Friday, with police firing tear gas at demonstrators, after the government ordered their protest camps to be broken up.

The new marches came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry angered Morsi loyalists by saying said Egypt's military had been "restoring democracy" when it deposed the Islamist leader.

U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns will arrive in Cairo on Friday night, a senior Egyptian official said, as international efforts to resolve Egypt's political crisis ramp up.

"Burns is arriving tonight. He will meet with foreign minister Nabil Fahmy tomorrow," the source told Agence France Presse.

Islamist backers of Egypt's deposed President Mohammed Morsi staged defiant rallies on Friday, as police prepared to disperse their Cairo protest camps amid international appeals to avoid further bloodshed.

The new demonstrations came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Egypt's military had been "restoring democracy" when it deposed Morsi, in comments that prompted fury from the ousted leader's supporters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the Egyptian army, which deposed president Mohammed Morsi, had intervened at the request of millions to protect democracy and had restored it.

Kerry made the remarks in a interview in Pakistan where he earlier congratulated the new government on an historic transition of democratic power in a country long dominated by the military.

Egypt's Interior Ministry urged supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday to evacuate their Cairo protest camps, promising them a "safe exit."

The ministry "calls on those in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave," it said in a statement, a day after the government ordered police to end the protests.

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi pledged to defy a crackdown ordered by the army-installed interim government, as diplomats scrambled on Thursday to broker an end to the crisis.

Morsi's Islamist backers said they would hold a "march of the millions" on Friday, and denounced the orders given to police by the interim cabinet to end their Cairo sit-ins.

The United States on Wednesday urged Egypt to respect freedom of assembly following violence but lawmakers defeated a bid to cut aid over the ouster of elected president Mohammed Morsi.

Egypt's army-backed cabinet issued orders to end two sit-ins in Cairo squares, calling them a "threat to national security," days after 82 pro-Morsi protesters were shot dead.

An African Union delegation in Cairo has met Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi, the interim presidency and the team leader revealed on Wednesday.

"The whole delegation met with Morsi," the presidency said in a statement, giving no details on when and where the meeting took place.

Egypt's cabinet tasked police on Wednesday to take "all necessary measures" to end protests by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, warning that their demonstrations pose a national security threat.

"The continuation of the dangerous situation in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, and consequent terrorism and road blockages are no longer acceptable given the threat to national security," it said in a statement.