Cairo - Egyptian Islamist parties, including the president's, on Wednesday called for a “million-man march” on June 21 to counter a planned protest at the end of the month outside the presidential palace.

“Islamist parties have decided to organise a 'million-man march' in front of Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque (in a Cairo suburb) on Friday, June 21, under the slogan: 'Protect the revolution. Yes to peace, no to violence',” said President Mohamed Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party, political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, on its website.

An opposition-backed campaign dubbed Tamarrod, Arabic for rebellion, has called for an anti-Morsi demonstration outside the palace on June 30, the first anniversary of his election.

It says it has gathered millions of signatures to a petition demanding that Morsi step down to pave the way for an early presidential election.

In a newspaper interview published last week, Morsi himself dismissed the call for an early election as “absurd and illegitimate”, and in violation of the constitution.