Egypt is braced for mass demonstrations after opposition activists called for a million-person protest on Friday.
Thousands of protesters have begun gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square - focus of February's uprising - to demand speedier reforms.They particularly want to see ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his officials put on trial more quickly.
There were riots this week over a court decision to bail policemen accused of killing 17 people during the uprising.
People began arriving in Tahrir Square throughout the night to pitch their tents. They were even directing traffic in place of the police who had agreed to stay away to avoid confrontation.
A security official told the AFP news agency that police and army officers would be stationed in the side streets but would not be present on the square itself.
Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement said it would attend the protest.
"The law is above everyone, and justice has to prevail on all people, young and old," the group's Mahmoud Ghzolan said.
Ministers acquitted Official figures show that at least 846 people died and 6,000 more were injured in the 18-day uprising during January and February.
Since then, only one policeman has been convicted in more than a dozen court cases over the crackdown on protesters, the AP news agency reports. He was tried in absentia.
And on Tuesday, a Cairo court acquitted three ministers from the Mubarak regime who had been charged with squandering public funds.
The decision to release on bail seven policemen accused of killing 17 protesters sparked riots in both Cairo and Suez this week.
Activists are also concerned that the 83-year-old former president remains in a regular hospital, with no date yet set for a court appearance for either him, his sons or his senior officials.
But, says the BBC's John Leyne, other Egyptians are opposed to the continuing protests and just want a return to normality, law and order and the revival of the economy.
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