In Egypt, Last Friday Was Not Your Father's Tahrir Square Protest

Last month, the Tahrir Square protesters were angry at the interim government for having taken them for granted and not delivering on the promised reforms they had fought for:

Unlike many past Fridays, when demonstrations in Cairo's main square ended at nightfall, as many as 2,000 protesters, activists and families of those killed and injured during the revolution have decided not to leave the square before all demands of the revolution are met by both the interim government and the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).

''Just like we came here in January and stayed for 18 days to remove Mubarak, we will remain here this time around to save our revolution and pressure for the achievement of all the revolution's main targets," says Fathi Mohamed, a 27-year-old lawyer who has been in the square since Friday.

Looks like Mohamed has some company:

Not your father's Tahrir Square Protest

Now the Egyptian Islamists are making their voices heard:

Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square on Friday calling for a state bound by strict religious law and delivering a persuasive show of force in a turbulent country showing deep divisions and growing signs of polarization.

The shape of Egypt five months into its revolution remains distinctly undecided, and Islamists have long been the best organized political force in this religiously conservative country. Some activists speculated that their show of strength would serve as a jolt to the secular forces who helped to start the revolution but who remain divided, largely ineffectual and woefully unprepared for coming elections.

The Friday protest was supposed to have been a demonstration of national unity. Instead, the secularist and liberals were clearly outnumbered by the conservative Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood. The only possible bright spot might be that the Salafists themselves will give the Muslim Brotherhood something to think about.

Be that as it may, Friday's protest was a reminder--if any was still needed--that the Arab Spring in general, and the protests in Egypt in particular, were not simply going to make the entrenched forces just step aside and allow reform and Democracy walk right in.

In any case, the crowd did not seem to mind the unexpected appearance of the Islamists one bit--on the contrary:

Crowds played on slogans made popular during the epic protests that culminated in February. Heard often back then was a cry that soon became famous: “Hold your head up high, you’re Egyptian.” On Friday, “Muslim” was substituted for “Egyptian.” The chant that became the revolution’s anthem, “The people want to topple the regime,” changed on Friday to “The people want to apply God’s law.” The crowd itself seemed buoyed by the impressive show.

And why not? The Salafist call for for both stability and piety appealed to Egyptians who had witnessed years and years corruption.

It looks like the next move is up to the secularists--and to the Muslim Brotherhood, which will have to decide whether it is more in its interests to just join with the Salafists or to be the bridge between them and the more moderate groups.

Bottom line, the future of Egypt is still very much up in the air.

Technorati Tag: Egypt and Muslim Brotherhood.