A split is widening in the Tamarod (Rebel) campaign that was instrumental in ousting Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

After announcing some of the founding members were suspended from the group for supporting presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi, the group's general assembly on Monday announced an endorsement for army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who has yet to announce his candidacy. 

The official Facebook page of the group, however, is under control of the camp backing Sabbahi.

The page quoted Hassan Shaheen, a co-founding member representing the pro-Sabbahi camp, as saying his fellows were forcibly prevented from attending Monday's meeting by "bodyguards" used by their opponents within the group to prevent them from voicing their opinion about supporting a presidential candidate.

"Tamarod expresses deep discontent over the scene of last night which showed forcibly imposing of opinion through tactics that used to be used by previous regimes," he wrote on the Facebook page.

Mahmoud Badr, another co-founder of the group representing the pro-Sisi camp, heaped praise on those who attended the conference "without being distracted by shenanigans."

Badr also repeated a previous statement that he seeks to turn the group into a political party.