Ashton told protests to continue until Morsi is restored

CAIRO: A coalition of groups supporting Mohamed Morsi said on Tuesday that they told EU’s Catehring Ashton that increasingly deadly protests will continued until the ousted Egyptian president is restored.

"The coalition affirmed the Egyptian people will not leave streets and squares until constitutional legitimacy returns," a statement said after the meeting with the EU foreign policy chief.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held two hours of talks with Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi, in custody since shortly after the July 3 coup, her spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Ashton met Morsi "for two hours," her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told AFP.

In Cairo to discuss the bloody political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous state, the political stand off, Ashton headed off to meet Morsi during the night.

Sources told AFP that she had left Cairo in a military helicopter for the undisclosed location where Morsi is being held.

On her last visit on July 17, Ashton unsuccessfully requested to meet him and urged his release.

His supporters have rallied daily for his reinstatement and on Monday marched from a key Cairo sit-in to several security headquarters.

Ashton, who arrived in Cairo late Sunday, held talks with a string of officials throughout Monday, including military-installed interim president Adly Mansour, vice president for international affairs Mohamed ElBaradei and army chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.