Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have staged rival rallies across the country but there has been violence in the north.
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Tension has risen ahead of a mass protest planned by the opposition for Sunday.
Thousands of Morsi supporters rallied outside the main mosque in Cairo's Nasr district.
At least one person was killed in Alexandria as protesters stormed a local Muslim Brotherhood office.
Dozens more were injured when anti-Morsi protesters and Islamists clashed in the northern city, the second biggest in Egypt.
The office of the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Mr Morsi, was set ablaze and birdshot was fired.
The authorities are reported to have called in riot police and army helicopters to try to quell the violence.
A Muslim Brotherhood-funded TV channel said petrol bombs were thrown in another northern area, Sharqia.
At least five people are now reported to have died in
northern Egypt in violence linked to the political situation in the past
few days.
Security is tight in many areas with troops deployed in Cairo and elsewhere.
Egypt's leading Muslim authority, the Al-Azhar institute, has issued a statement warning against escalating violence.
"We must be alert lest we slide into a civil war that does not differentiate between supporters and opponents," it said.
Mr Morsi's supporters are holding "open-ended" rallies before
what the opposition bills as big protests on Sunday calling for him to
resign. Sunday is the first anniversary of the president's inauguration.
Thousands of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its
Islamist allies massed outside Nasr City's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on
Friday.
They stressed what they see as Mr Morsi's "legitimacy", rejecting the opposition's demand for him to resign.
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| Protesters stormed the Alexandria office of the Muslim Brotherhood |
Morsi opponents gathered in Tahrir Square, ahead of Sunday's
planned march to the presidential palace, and anti-Morsi protesters
began a sit-in outside the building.
Police officers and former military personnel also assembled
outside the ministry of defence in Cairo in opposition to Mr Morsi's
rule and called for the military to take power again.
The main opposition coalition on Thursday rejected President Morsi's offer of dialogue.
In a statement, the National Salvation Front said it "remained determined to call for an early presidential election".
"We are confident the Egyptian people will come out in their millions
to hold peaceful demonstrations on all of Egypt's squares and streets
to realise their aspirations and to put the 25 January revolution back
on track," it added.
The opposition was referring to the popular uprising in January 2011 which ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi speech
Mr Morsi said divisions threatened to "paralyse" Egypt, in a speech on Wednesday to mark a year in office.
Mr Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, became
Egypt's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an
election considered free and fair.
His first year as president has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.
The president also used his televised address to warn the media not to abuse free speech.
Within hours ripples from the speech could be felt across Egyptian media.
A talk show on the al-Fareen TV channel ended abruptly on
Thursday night when the presenter learned he was to be arrested. Host
and owner Tawfiq Okasha is accused of spreading false information, and
the channel has ceased broadcasting.
Another prominent presenter resigned on air on state-run
television in protest at what he called government interference in the
editorial content of his programme.
In his speech, President Morsi defended his performance,
admitting errors and promising immediate and radical reforms to address
them.
"I was right in some cases, and wrong in other cases," he
said. "I have discovered after a year in charge that for the revolution
to achieve its goals, it needs radical measures."
He apologised for the fuel shortages that have caused long
lines at petrol stations and angered many Egyptians, and also for
failing to involve the nation's youth enough.
But despite Mr Morsi's initial conciliatory tone, the speech swiftly
moved into a condemnation of those he blamed for Egypt's problems, the
BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Cairo reports.
"I took responsibility for a country mired in corruption and was
faced with a war to make me fail," he said, naming several officials he
believed wanted to "turn the clock back" to the Mubarak era, including
politicians, judges and journalists.
"Political polarisation and conflict has reached a stage that
threatens our nascent democratic experience and threatens to put the
whole nation in a state of paralysis and chaos," he warned.
"The enemies of Egypt have not spared effort in trying to sabotage the democratic experience."
Mr Morsi called on opposition figures to "enter elections if
you want to change the government" and criticised them for refusing to
take part in a national dialogue.
The head of the army earlier warned it would not allow Egypt to slip into "uncontrollable conflict".
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