A legal battle over a controversial Egyptian-Saudi maritime border demarcation agreement on two Red Sea islands threatens to spill over onto the streets, as protests condemning the deal erupt in Cairo and other major Egyptian cities.

Under the agreement signed on April 8, 2016, Egypt is to cede control of the two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia. The government says the islands are in fact Saudi Arabian but have been in Egyptian custody since 1950. Many Egyptians are skeptical and believe the government is giving the islands to Saudi Arabia as gifts in gratitude for the generous aid the kingdom has pumped into Egypt since the 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

On June 16, dozens of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Cairo in defiance of an anti-protest law in place since November 2013 to protest parliament’s approval of the transfer of sovereignty of the two islands.

“Bread, freedom, the islands are Egyptian!” chanted the protesters, in a modification of the iconic “bread, freedom and social justice” chant that was widespread during the 2011 revolution.