CAIRO, Oct 15 (Aswat Masriya) – The rate of protesting declined in September, standing at 513 protests during the month against 647 protests during August, the Cairo-based Democracy Index said on Wednesday.

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.