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Tens of thousands of demonstrators have packed Cairo's Tahrir Square after days of deadly clashes, demanding the military rulers step down and rejecting their choice of new prime minister.

Ahead of elections due to start on Monday despite the political turmoil, Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) asked Kamal el-Ganzouri, 78, a prime minister under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, to head a new cabinet.

"Previous cabinets over the past 60 years were given many powers by the president of the republic," Ganzouri told a press conference on Friday, his first public statement after his appointment.

He himself had been granted "much more powers" than past predecessors, said Ganzouri, who served as Mubarak's prime minister between 1996 and 1999.

But protesters in the square of the Egyptian capital on Friday quickly rejected his appointment, saying he was not the man to lead a transition to democracy.

Hundreds of protesters in the square later branched off to the nearby cabinet offices in a bid to prevent Ganzouri from entering the building, an AFP reporter said.

Tensions have risen ahead of parliamentary elections, set to begin on Monday.