Tens of journalists organized a protest at the Journalists Syndicate on Sunday, as part of their ongoing campaign against the Protest Law and in solidarity with detainees on hunger strike.

The protesters chanted against the Protest Law and for detainees held on charges related to it, including activists Alaa Abd El Fattah and Ahmed Douma.

Other chants included, “Against hunger and against poverty, protests are ours, and the laws are for the people.”

Activists, political party members, and members of youth groups also joined the protest. State security was present before it began.

Shereen Talaat, member of the Bread and Freedom Party, said, “We view civil rights going hand-in-hand with socio-economic rights.”

“We fight for the poor, uneducated and voiceless. We aim to empower them through organizing and showing them how to empower themselves,” she added.

She explained that demanding the right to protest is the first step for those who seek socio-economic justice, and that hunger strikes are one of the last tactics left to support those who started the fight for social justice.

“Our hunger strike is a self-sacrifice to join those in prison who sacrificed their rights for the popular cause and for the collective good,” she said.

Basma Husseiny heard the call for solidarity and decided to join. “It’s my duty to raise my voice against injustice, as a citizen who cares about my country,” she said, adding, “Hunger is our last defense against brute force and state violence … Hunger gives us the power to protest even when the laws do not.”

Husseiny maintains that a hunger strike is the only solution, since she says protesters “can never match the violence of the regime.”

A group of 15 journalists started a hunger strike on Saturday denouncing the Protest Law and in solidarity with hunger-striking detainees languishing in prisons.

The journalists said the strike would last initially until September 15, when the second retrial of the Shura Council protestors is scheduled to take place. If their demands are not met, they will then consider escalating their strike.

Seven political parties have also called for a “symbolic” nationwide hunger strike on September 13 and 14, joining the growing “We are fed up” movement.

The Freedom to the Brave movement called on “advocates and supporters of freedom of expression, democracy and human rights” around the world to join the campaign by going on the symbolic hunger strike in solidarity.

The movement documented 242 people who have responded to the call so far and are on hunger strike for either one or two of the allocated days.

The “We are fed up” movement, which was started by hunger-striking detainees in August, has been gaining momentum as more and more detainees have launched hunger strikes to demand justice. Others outside of prisons have joined in solidarity.

As of September 14, there are 156 people on open-ended hunger strikes. 82 of them are in detention, according to the Freedom to the Brave movement. These figures do not include those on symbolic hunger strikes.

Last month, activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, among those sentenced to 15 years in the Shura Council case, launched an open-ended hunger strike against his detention.

Ahmed Douma, April 6 Youth Movement co-founder Mohamed Adel, Wael Metwally and Mohamed Abdel Rahman, all activists detained for protest-related charges, followed suit.

Seven others convicted with Abd El Fattah also announced an open-ended hunger strike and sit-in at the National Council for Human Rights last week.

Other hunger strikers convicted under the controversial Protest Law include Abd El Fattah’s younger sister Sanaa Seif and human rights lawyer Mahienour al-Massry.

Egyptian-American Mohamed Salah Soltan, son of Muslim Brotherhood leading figure Salah Soltan, has been on hunger strike for the longest period so far, having refused food for over 220 days.