Egypt Islamists reject use of army to "assault legitimacy"

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian Islamist alliance including the Muslim Brotherhood said late on Monday it rejected attempts to use the army to "assault legitimacy" and called for demonstrations to support the president.

Egypt's military gave deadlocked politicians 48 hours to resolve the country's crisis after millions of people protested on Sunday against President Mohamed Mursi.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which includes Mursi's Brotherhood and its allies, said in a statement it "absolutely and categorically rejects the attempts of some to use this great army to assault legitimacy" in a way that would lead to a "coup against legitimacy and the will of the people."

The group said it respected all initiatives to resolve the country's political crisis but that they had to respect constitutional principles.

It called on supporters to gather in squares across Egypt to "defend legitimacy and express rejection of any coup against it."

Following a news conference where the statement was read out to journalists, Islamists supporters chanted, "Islamic, Islamic," in the streets.

"The army's job is to secure the country and not interfere in politics," one supporter, Mohamed Sabry, said. "Today's statement is a blatant interference in the president's affairs, and we reject that."

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Tom Perry and Peter Cooney)