CAIRO – Egypt's protest movement is calling for a "second revolution" as it plans a huge rally Friday directed mainly against the country's military rulers. But the movement itself is now beset by divisions over Egypt's political future.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organized political force, has come out against the protest planned for Cairo's Tahrir Square, labeled "the second revolution of anger." The Brotherhood says the protesters are driving a wedge between the military and the people.

That has set the Brotherhood against an array of liberal and secular groups who are losing trust in the military's handling of the transition to democracy, but who themselves are divided.
The protesters still agree on the need to return to Tahrir Square. Pressure yields results, they say.
While the movement wants Egypt's military rulers to speed up the pace of democratic transformation, some liberal groups are calling for planned parliamentary elections, now set for September, to be pushed back so that they will have more time to prepare. The Brotherhood, however, stands to make major gains and wants the vote to go ahead.

"The Brotherhood have a sweeping feeling that at this historic moment, a unique moment in their whole history, that they can get a large part of the parliament, and therefore make a constitution that will protect their interests and future," said Ammar Ali Hassan, an Egyptian expert on Islamic groups.
The Muslim Brotherhood, banned in 1954, became a political force after renouncing violence in the 1970s. Eventually it became the most formidable opponent to Mubarak's regime, though it was still banned as a political party.
When Mubarak fell, the Brotherhood stood ready with a huge network of social services and supporters.
Mubarak now faces trial on charges of conspiring to kill protesters. On Thursday, the country's ex-housing minister was convicted of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison for illegally selling 18 acres of state land at cut-rate prices to an Egyptian businessman.

The Brotherhood has firmly pushed back against delaying the elections, spreading the message on TV and at rallies, and issuing a statement on its official website calling for the people's will to be respected.
Its statement accused some of "driving a wedge between the people and its national army, which is the main supporter for the success of the revolution."
Activist Hossam Hamalawi, a socialist who is calling for a civilian council to replace the military junta, said the Brotherhood statement amounted to accusations of treason.
"The statement included accusations that we are more or less traitors to the revolution, that we have our own agenda," he said. "They are using the same language of the old regime."

The ruling Armed Forces Council, after initially warning that "dubious" elements may try to cause chaos during Friday's protests, said Thursday on its Facebook page that the right to peaceful protest is guaranteed. It said it will stay clear of the protest area to avoid any friction.
"The armed forces is from and for the people. Its protection of the revolution since it was launched was out of conviction of that principle," the statement said.

Not all protesters agree on delaying the elections, but they are united by a fear of a growing convergence of opinions between the Islamists and the military.
"The Brotherhood and the army are one hand," Bassem Kamel, a member of a youth coalition which was part of the uprising and a member of a new socialist democratic party. "The army can't see anyone organized enough to deal with except the Brotherhood, and the Brotherhood like the scenario out there presented by the army... That is why they are also defending the military, always."
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Associated Press Writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report.