Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Helicopters hovered over Cairo's Tahrir Square Monday morning as anti-government demonstrations continued for a seventh day and showed no signs of waning.
At least 1,000 people were gathered in the area, a focal point of the protests that started Tuesday. Some of them said they had spent the night, and the smell of smoke from campfires lingered in the air.
One group held signs as they chanted, "The Egyptian people want the government to fall".
Troops and tanks remained a visible presence on the city's streets. State-run Nile TV reported that police forces were scheduled to start deploying and resume their duties throughout Egypt on Monday.
Police have been virtually absent from the streets since Saturday, after a brutal crackdown a day earlier when thousands of riot and plainclothes police clashed violently with protesters.
As the threat of further unrest loomed, the U.S. planned to begin charter flights to help Americans leave the country Monday. CNN
