CAIRO (AP) — Police on Sunday used heavy tear gas to clear hundreds of supporters of Egypt’s ousted Islamist president from Cairo’s famed Tahrir Square shortly after they took over the plaza.

It was the first time in more than a year that Islamists entered the central square in significant numbers. The location has been the near exclusive domain of liberal and secular protesters since shortly after now-deposed Mohammed Morsi took office in June 2012.

Police acted swiftly and appeared to surprise protesters, who quickly dispersed and took refuge in side streets. After an initial salvo of some two dozen tear gas canisters, armored police vans rushed to the square with sirens wailing. Later, six armored personnel carriers belonging to the army arrived.

Sunday’s Islamist protesters came from Cairo University, where they have been protesting the death on Thursday of an engineering student at the hands of police. Non- Islamist students were also protesting the death of the student on Sunday, but they restricted their demonstration to the area outside the Cairo University campus in the Giza district.