CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday it was "studying" an army statement giving Islamist President Mohamed Mursi 48 hours to meet the demands of the people before it would intervene, a senior leader said.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is studying the army statement," Mr Mahmud Ghozlan told AFP.

He said the movement's political bureau would meet to "decide on its position."

The opposition Tamarod group, which was behind Sunday's protests that saw millions in the streets calling on President Mursi to resign, hailed the army for siding with the people.

Mr Tamarod, which says it gathered 22 million signatures to call for early presidential elections said the army had "sided with the will of the people". The army statement "will mean early presidential elections", the group's spokesman Mahmud Badr told reporters.

In a statement read out on state television, the armed forces reiterated its "call that the demands of the people be met and gives (all parties) 48 hours, as a last chance, to take responsibility for the historic circumstances the country is going through".

"If the demands of the people are not met in this period... (the armed forces) will announce a future roadmap and measures to oversee its implementation," the statement said.