The Cairo-based Democracy Index released its August report on Tuesday, which stated that 557 incidents of political violence have taken place last month.
The Democracy index works under the International Development Centre. The index described the total number of violent incidents as “unprecedented,” occurring at a rate of twenty incidents per day, with three incidents every four hours. Over one third of these violent incidents were armed clashes.
There have been 147 armed attacks on security and police sites and Egypt has witnessed 193 incidents of armed clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and residents (of areas were pro-Morsi protests occurred). The governorate of Giza has had the largest share of violence, with Northern Sinai coming in second place and Daqahleya in third.
“Egypt is living in a time of lack of credibility and transparency regarding the numbers of killed, injured, and arrested,” the report said.
It added that there is a vast discrepancy between actual and government’s official numbers on deaths and injuries. The report stated that the Ministry of Health intermittently publishes figures of deaths and injuries and that they are met with Ministry of Interior figures on security personnel casualties. “The Cabinet has given more incomplete figures to add to the blurriness of the picture,” the report read.
Democracy Index said that although official figures give an average of 700 deaths and 5,000 injured, and civil society figures indicate 1,800 deaths and 8,000 injured, the report could verify approximate numbers of the deaths of 1,000 and injuries of 6,000 people.
Regarding arrests, the report said that while official figures have once stated that around 1,000 were arrested, the Muslim Brotherhood have reported much higher figures, “which raises many questions on the nature of the number of arrested people in the absence of periodic statistics reflecting the real number of detainees…”
