Muslim Brotherhood to protest in Tahrir amid speculation over internal rifts
Cars drive at Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital Cairo on June 29, 2011 after bloody clashes between protesters and anti-riot police that raged overnight in the landmark square erupted in new scuffles amid mounting frustration with Egypt’s military rulers over the pace of reform.
The graffiti is on the walls: Egypt's revolutionaries are heading back to Cairo's Tahrir Square.
A rally to be held this Friday is expected to draw up to one million people back to the epicenter of the protest movement that toppled Hosni Mubarak, ending one of the most violent weeks of unrest in Egypt since the former president's ouster on February 11.
Although organizers could not agree on a name for Friday's demonstration, the gathering is hoping to reunite the nation's various political groups in a bid to "save the revolution" from Egypt's interim government, which many believe has been too slow to implement political reform.
The participants rallying in Tahrir will likely consist of Egypt's secular political groups, leftists, socialists, and – in a surprise announcement earlier this week – even the country's largest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have traditionally avoided post-revolution public demonstrations that are overly critical of the nations military-led interim leaders.
But on Wednesday, the MB reversed their earlier decision to steer clear.
"With the wellbeing of Egypt and its citizens in mind the MB decision comes as Egyptians’ anger swells over the handling of a promised transition to democracy, the continued military trials of civilians and the continued presence of police officials responsible for repression before and during the revolt," stated the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, via their official English-language website.
The group's flip-flop has sparked speculation that there are disputes within the Muslim Brotherhood over the direction of their newly-formed political party.
Some even believe that Egypt's most organized political group may be splintering.
Just three months before parliamentary elections, the group is facing dissension within its ranks, as reformers push for a more open system of choosing leaders and political candidates. The Brotherhood’s leadership appeared to be dragged reluctantly into the mass protests that forced Mubarak from office, and the young members who joined the uprising say the group is still too slow to react to the sentiments of the Egyptian masses.
Read more about the Muslim Brotherhood's role in Egypt's revolution here.