Protesters have begun setting the stage for mass anti-regime demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square on 30 June.

Some 32 tents were pitched in the middle of the square on Thursday morning and four others were erected near the Egyptian Museum, state news agency MENA reported.

Sunday's protests, which are expected to be the biggest since the 2011 revolution, will press for President Mohamed Morsi to step down.

Protest calls were spearheaded by the Rebel campaign, a mammoth anti-Morsi petition drive.

Morsi's Islamist backers, meanwhile, are gearing up for their own counter-demonstrations planned for Friday.

Traffic in Tahrir Square, however, returned to normal on Thursday after it came to a standstill on Wednesday night.

Thousands of protesters descended on the flashpoint square late on Wednesday where big screens had been set up ahead of a speech by President Morsi. Angry protesters chanted against the president and the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which helped catapult him into the presidency. Others held aloft shoes and red cards as a sign of their contempt.