CAIRO, Jul 20 (Aswat Masriya) - The anti-sexual harassment group Shoft Taharosh (I Saw Harassment) intervened in 223 incidents of sexual violations during the three days of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The initiative said in a statement on Monday that the level of sexual violations witnessed throughout the Eid, which stretched from Friday to Sunday, was at its "highest" rate in the geographical area where the initiative is active; downtown Cairo.

Overall, the group's intervention rose from 35 in 2014's Eid al-Fitr to a whopping 223 during this year's Eid.

The initiative said it was able to intervene in 79 incidents of sexual violations on Friday, as opposed to 16 incidents during the first day of last year's Eid al-Fitr. Violations ranged from verbal harassment, to sexual assault and mob assaults.

On Friday, at least 29 were arrested for sexual harassment, state-run Al-Ahram reported.

Saturday, which marked the second day of Eid, witnessed 105 interventions by the initiative, whereas the initiative intervened in 15 incidents of violations on the second day of Eid in 2014.

Shoft Taharosh intervened in 39 incidents of violations during the third day of Eid this year, as opposed to four incidents last year, it said.

Eid vacations in Egypt are usually marred by unusually high rates of sexual harassment, especially in central Cairo.

Last year, Egypt's former interim president Adli Mansour approved amendments to Egypt's penal code which punish sexual harassers by imprisonment for a period ranging from six months to five years, as well as a fine of 3000 to 5000 Egyptian pounds ($383 - $638.56).

According to a 2013 report by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment and 96.5 percent have been subjected to sexual assault.