Tahrir Square in Cairo was full again on Friday, as tens of thousands of people once again gathered for a mass demonstration following mosque prayers, CNN reported.
But unlike the protests in February which led to the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, this time the crowd consisted mainly of Islamists who called for the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt.
According to CNN, the demonstrators included conservative Salafists as well as members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad, who arrived in hundreds of buses from across Egypt.
The crowd held up signs and shouted: “Egypt will return to Islamic Sharia law! Liberals and secularists are the enemies of Allah! The solution is Islam!”
While it is unclear if the Friday protests are a sign of things to come, the Muslim Brotherhood, banned from politics under Mubarak’s regime, has been eying the throne in Egypt.
Following the revolution, the group created a broad super-coalition of opposition parties in hopes of taking Egypt's next government by storm.
The group’s leaders have publicly stated they would implement Muslim sharia law in Egypt should they take office.
The anti-Israel group has also said it is ready to speak with the United States so long as it stops “backing the Zionist occupation and using double standards.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Islamic Jihad, also banned during Mubarak’s regime, said Friday that there is room in the new Egypt for the group’s voices.
“All the political parties and the Islamic movements and the people are here today to deliver one message: that the minority with the loud voice cannot force their opinions on the silent majority of the nation,” Ahmed Mohamed was quoted by CNN as saying.