Almost one "act of violence" every five hours in September: Democracy Index

Friday 17-10-2014 PM 12:33
Almost one
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CAIRO, Oct 17 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt has witnessed 138 acts of violence and "political terrorism" in September, led by clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and security forces, the Cairo-based democracy index reported Friday.

Explosions and violence in Cairo and other cities have surged since the ouster of Former President Mohamed Mursi, resulting in 1500 deaths of mainly Mursi supporters and hundreds of security personnel.

The month of September witnessed 25 killings, 43 injuries, and 138 cases of violence and political terrorism, the report stated, estimating five accidents per day, and almost one accident every five hours.

The report identified perpetrators in three groups; the Muslim Brotherhood, security forces, and supporters of the current state administration.

Armed clashes between the Brotherhood supporters, security forces, and the people amounted to 57, all of which were sparked by pro-Brotherhood protests and ended in confrontations with either security forces or the supporters of the current administration, in reference to the supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. 

Bombings carried out using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) amounted to 32 cases, while 20 more attempts were foiled, four of which targeted electricity transformers.

These accidents occurred in 17 governorates, most of which took place in North Sinai which witnessed 23 accidents (17 percent), followed by Cairo where 20 accidents took place (15 percent).

On Wednesday, the index reported a decline in the rate of protesting in September, standing at 513 protests during the month against 647 protests during August.

Democracy Index noted a decline in the number of protests staged by the Muslim Brotherhood. The group, listed as a terrorist organisation last December, staged 203 (39.5 percent) protests in September, compared to 414 (64 percent) in August; almost half the number of protests.

Most of the Muslim Brotherhood's protests were held on Friday, making up 75 percent of the group's protests throughout the month. Fridays witnessed the largest number of protests held during the month; 153 protests were held on the four Fridays of last September.

The number of social and economic protests meanwhile rose in September, making up 54 percent of the protests held during the month, compared to 35 percent last month. This came at the expense of protests calling for civil and political rights, which made up 46 percent of the protests, as opposed to 65 percent in August.

The most frequent form of protests in September was hunger striking. Democracy Index reported at least 1000 cases of hunger strikes, in solidarity with a nation-wide campaign launched in late August in protest over last year's protest law and calling for the release of all those detained due to the law.

Cairo hosted the highest number of protests in September; 118 protests making up 23 percent of the protests held nationwide. Alexandria ranked second with 56 protests while Giza ranked third with 45 protests. The Sinai Peninsula witnessed the smallest number of protests; one protest was held in North Sinai and another in South Sinai.

Democracy Index is a research project issued by the Cairo-based International Development Centre to monitor protests rate in Egypt.

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