Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied today in a bid to show Islamists and liberal groups were united in wanting change, but the overwhelmingly Islamic tone of chants and banners exposed differences between the two sides.
"Islamic law above the constitution," several banners read in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Protesters who fear Islamists will seek to dominate plans to rewrite the constitution demanded they be taken down. Similar tensions emerged in Suez.
Many of those gathered were from the strict Salafist Islamic groups. Religious chants such as "There is no God but God" and "Islamiya, Islamiya" dominated Tahrir, which had filled up even before the start of Muslim prayers at noon.
"There are so many [Islamic] beards. We certainly feel imposed upon," said Samy Ali (23), a student in Tahrir, adding Salafists had tried to separate women and men camping there.
Islamists and more liberal groups have diverged on how hard to press the ruling generals for change. But the debate over the constitution, due to be rewritten after parliament is elected this year, has also been divisive.
More liberal groups fear the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organised grouping, and other Islamists will dominate the vote and so be able to push for a more Islamic-leaning constitution.
"Troubling signs that the 'Friday of Unity' may soon turn into a 'Friday of Division'. Let's hope that's not the case," wrote Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center on Twitter.
The Brotherhood and other Islamists had joined a big rally with other groups on July 8th demanding a deeper purge of officials who served under ousted President Hosni Mubarak and swifter corruption trials. But since then they have stepped back.
The Brotherhood said they wanted to give the army time to respond. Other groups, such as the April 6th movement, have kept up the pressure with some camping out in Tahrir. A senior Muslim Brotherhood official had said the today's rally would show "unity of all political forces".
In Tahrir, protesters said tensions mostly emerged between liberal groups and Salafists rather than the Brotherhood, which takes a conservative but not strict Salafi approach to Islam.
In Suez, east of Cairo, the official MENA news agency said some groups including the liberal Wafd party announced they were withdrawing from the rally because of Islamist tactics.
"(Wafd) and a large number of parties as well as the Suez Revolutionary Coalition decided not to participate after they became sure that the religious groups participating refused the principle of harmony and insisted on slogans that bring up divisions," Ali Amin of the Wafd party was quoted as saying.
However, alongside the Islamic slogans, there were also other chants in Tahrir, such as "People and army, hand in hand".
Some protesters have accused the Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak but now enjoys unprecedented freedom, of making a pact with the army. The group denies it. But the question of how hard to push the army over reforms remains.
Reuters