The power vacuum has left confusion about who is responsible for making decisions in the interim, and in particular for law enforcement. Over the past few days, the authorities have arrested Muslim Brotherhood officials and shut down television stations, including Islamist channels, though it is not clear on whose orders the security services were acting.

On Sunday, Al Jazeera reported that prosecutors had interrogated its Cairo bureau chief, Abdel Fattah Fayed, for hours before releasing him on bail.

Al Jazeera’s Web site said Mr. Fayed, who had turned himself in, was charged with running an unlicensed satellite channel and “transmitting news that could compromise Egypt’s national security.” On Wednesday, as part of what appeared to be a coordinated sweep against news media outlets seen as sympathetic to Mr. Morsi, security officials raided the offices of Al Jazeera’s local Cairo station and several other channels.

Since then, thousands of Islamists have held a vigil for Mr. Morsi at their new base in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, and in recent days outside the officers’ club of the Republican Guard, where some believed Mr. Morsi was being held.

Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that nominated Mr. Morsi for president, have sought to convince the world that his removal was both illegal and untenable. They now say they intend to escalate their demonstrations across Egypt.

In the square, Brotherhood officials pledged that their growing protests would force the military to release Mr. Morsi, insisting that no one else would negotiate on their behalf. “I think the military has to yield; they won’t have any choice,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman.