In a March report titled “Democracy Indicator,” an Egyptian rights center said Egypt has one of the highest rates of protest, having witnessed 1,354 protests in March, up from 864 in February.
According to the report issued by the International Development Center, Egypt has never seen such a high rate of protest before, not even at the peak of the 25 January revolution. In March, Egypt had 1.8 protests every hour, 7.2 protests every four hours, 44 protests a day and 306 protests a week.
Forty different categories of people staged protests. People with no political affiliations staged 309 protests, while activists came in second, with 190 protests. The security sector occupied the third rank, with 173 protests throughout the month.
Demonstrations over labor rights accounted for the most protests, while the fuel crisis triggered 112 protests. Seventy-three protests were staged to call for bringing down the regime, and 25 to oppose the “Brotherhoodization” of state institutions.
Six protests called for civil disobedience, three opposed visits conducted by the president or Freedom and Justice Party members, and three called for the army to intervene in politics over dissatisfaction with the management of political affairs.
Concerning the geography of protests, Cairo, Gharbiya, Sharqiya, Alexandria and Kafr al-Sheikh staged the most. The report also cites an increasing number of demonstrations in Upper Egyptian and Bedouin governorates.
The report states that the rate of violent protests has increased. Regular protests account for slightly more than a quarter of all protests staged, while road blocking was the second most used form of protest, accounting for 18.24 percent of all protests.
The report says it “is a disgrace that the security apparatus used the most violence against establishments in protests, closing police stations, damaging buildings and blocking roads.”
