A flag of the "Rabaa" gesture, in reference to the police clearing of Rabaa Adawiya protest camp on August 14, is pictured during a protest by supporters of Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo August 23, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
The Muslim Brotherhood has announced its support for protests this Friday called by the Salafist Front in order to preserve Egypt's "Islamic identity."
"The Muslim Brotherhood treasures the call to preserve the nation's identity, which the Egyptian people including the Muslim Brotherhood fought for," said a statement published on the Brotherhood's website on Sunday. "The Egyptian people won't accept any attempt to obliterate its Islamic identity."
The ultra-Conservative Salafist Front has called for "a Muslim youth uprising" on Friday, 28 November across Egypt in order "impose Islamic identity without disguise" and "to impose Islamic sharia."
"The Egyptian people won't accept this war on its sacred values, whether destroying mosques or burning the holy Quran or killing youth," the Brotherhood's statement said, claiming there was a "frenzy" in the media over the front's call for Friday protests.
The Salafist Front, formed after the 2011 uprising, also demands the reinstatement of president Morsi who was ousted in July 2013 amid mass protests against his rule.
The front's call this week for protests is the first time it has acted outside of the pro-Brotherhood coalition, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which has led efforts against Egypt's current authorities since Morsi's ouster.
The NASL was officially banned by a court order two months ago in Egypt.
The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation last December and many of its leading figures and thousands of its members and supporters are currently behind bars on charges related to terrorism or illegal protests.
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