Tahrir split as Islamists steal march

More than 30 Egyptian political parties and movements withdrew from a rally yesterday that was organised to send a united message to the ruling army about reform, saying the event had been hijacked by Islamists.

"Islamic law above the constitution," read banners in Cairo's Tahrir Square that was packed with tens of thousands of people. Reformists, who fear Islamists will seek to dominate plans to rewrite the constitution, demanded they be taken down.

"Islamic, Islamic, we don't want secular", people chanted in the square filled with many followers of the strict Salafist sect.

"There are so many (Islamic] beards. We certainly feel imposed upon," said student Samy Ali, 23. He said Salafists had tried to segregate women and men who were camping there.

Islamists and more liberal groups have diverged on how hard to press the ruling generals for change. They have also been divided over the fate of the constitution, which is to be rewritten after a parliament is elected later this year.

Liberal groups fear the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organised group, and other Islamists will dominate the vote.

A joint statement by more than 30 groups said Islamists and other groups had agreed on demands to make on Friday "to thwart attempts by the military council to divide the revolutionaries and distort their image". But the groups said "some Islamic currents" violated this.

Abdelrahman al-Barr, a senior Brotherhood member, said of the boycott decision: "Salafist slogans shouldn't be a cause for other political forces to withdraw. Everyone is free to say what they feel like."

The protests in Cairo and other cities had been called to force the army council, which took over when president Hosni Mubarak quit on 11 February, to deliver on its promises to foster political reform.