No to former regime, Egyptians chant

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CAIRO, April 13 (UPI) -- Thousands of supporters of Islamist parties in Egypt demonstrating Friday in Cairo said their only demand was to prevent the return of the former regime.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood were said to have commissioned buses to ferry supporters to downtown Cairo for what the group this week dubbed a million-man march.

The Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in Egypt called for the demonstrations under the slogan "the only demand -- together against the remnants of the former regime," reports Egyptian news service al-Ahram.

The Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement, said the demonstrations were an opportunity to "defend the revolution."

The demonstrations follow a Thursday decision by the Egyptian Parliament to ban members of Hosni Mubarak's regime from seeking office. Parliament is dominated by Egyptian movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Former Egyptian Vice President and one-time intelligence chief Omar Suleiman announced he was running for president earlier this week.

Mass demonstrations last year forced Mubarak to resign after he had been Egypt's president for nearly 30 years. The country has faced routine, though smaller, demonstrations since the revolution as Egyptians express their frustration with the pace of reforms.

Presidential elections are scheduled for May.