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CAIRO, June 29 (UPI) -- Thousands of protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square Friday demanded the military transfer full power to President Mohamed Morsi as he took the presidential oath. Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president-elect, took the unofficial oath in the Cairo square. He is to officially take the oath in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court, then speak to the protesters, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
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"Free revolutionaries will continue the course," Morsi chanted with the crowd before his speech.
In the speech, Morsi said: "Revolution is led by its aims, and it will continue until it achieves all of its goals. You are the source of legitimacy and power, above all."
The protesters also called for cancellation of the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration, which gives the military authority and limits the powers of the new president, and for reinstatement of Parliament, which had been dissolved June 12 by a Supreme Constitutional Court.
Morsi prayed Friday in Al-Azhar Mosque, where worshipers chanted "God is great, God is great" when he arrived.
Safwat Hegazy, a preacher aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, delivered a sermon to the Tahrir Square protesters in which he emphasized the need for the military "to hand over power fully, as the military council has no right to issue a supplement to the Constitutional Declaration that further consolidates the military state."
"The people want a civilian state that is free of that which angers God the almighty. The armed forces' role is protecting the borders," Hegazy said.
Egypt's state news agency MENA reported protesters also turned out Friday in Alexandria, Mansoura and Qalyubiya.
In Alexandria, hundreds of demonstrators, some carrying Egyptian flags, chanted, "Free revolutionaries, we will continue the path."
In Mansoura, protesters raised a cartoon showing Morsi handcuffed, symbolizing his powers being limited by the Constitutional Declaration, and chanted: "Down with military rule. We are the people, the red line."
