Islamists Strive for Spirit of Tahrir at Protest The burly, bearded men in hard hats hunker down with long sticks behind waist-high, makeshift brick walls surrounding a mosque that has become the heart of a Muslim Brotherhood encampment. Egypt's Islamists are trying to recreate the atmosphere of Tahrir Square from 2½ years ago in the hope that their deposed president will be returned to power. But where those 2011 protests against Hosni Mubarak took place in the center of the city and involved a broad cross-section of Egyptians, the gathering that swells to tens of thousands every night outside the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque is restricted largely to the Brotherhood faithful - displaying a strong feeling of isolation from the rest of society. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood say it is just a matter of holding their ground for the sake of their democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi. The Monday morning killing of dozens of their supporters just 500 meters (yards) away has raised the stakes for their embattled enclave. The demonstrators say the armed forces opened fire during dawn prayers without provocation, but the military says it came under heavy assault by gunmen and snipers who killed a soldier and two policemen. Demonstration, demonstration, demonstration - the people will demonstrate until the president is released and comes back to us. Then we will all talk together and set an agenda," said Hamza Zouba, a spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm whose domination in the last year provoked million-strong anti-government protests June 30 that led to the military overthrow of Morsi. Zouba said the military hadn't realized the breadth of Morsi's popularity, and he spoke of demonstrations across the country Monday for his release - a claim that appeared to be an exaggeration. "We are waiting for the decay of the coalition against us," Zouba said, explaining how the killing of Brotherhood members had provoked condemnations across the political spectrum, including the pullout of a religious conservative party from the military-backed coalition. His optimism was shared by many in the tent city that contains just a few thousand in the mornings but swells every evening to tens of thousands who cheer the speakers on a floodlit stage. "Most of us were in Tahrir until Hosni Mubarak left, so we have that experience and we know how to outlast a despotic regime," said Ibrahim Abdessattar, a medical doctor, as he relaxed in the shade of his tent under the still-fierce late afternoon sun. With him were colleagues, neighbors, friends and even a patient who all came from the Giza neighborhood on the other side of the city to show their support for the deposed president. "I will stay here until Morsi returns," said Ihab Karamallah, another doctor who goes to his clinic in the morning before returning to the sit-in. I'll bring my wife and children here if I have to. Every morning, volunteers move through the camp, where tents are pitched along the sidewalks and grassy median of the crossroads, picking up trash and cleaning the streets. Men line up at public tap to wash, and children run through the streets chased by their mothers. The crowds come from all social classes with men both clean-shaven and with full beards, although women without the conservative headscarves or face-covering veils are not to be found, and there is a female-only section in front of the stage.