Egyptian authorities acted to end a three-month state of emergency yesterday, a step that may help the army-backed government restore a semblance of normalcy after turmoil ignited by the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi.
But as the authorities moved to cancel the exceptional powers, the government edged a step closer to passing a law regarded by activists and human rights groups as a threat to the right to protest.
It imposed the emergency and nightly curfews on August 14, when security forces forcibly dispersed two Cairo sit-ins by Morsi supporters, starting the worst bout of bloodshed in Egypt’s modern history.
A court ruled the state of emergency had ended at 4pm yesterday, two days earlier than expected. The government said in a statement it was committed to implementing the court ruling and was awaiting a copy of the decision to execute it.
It would mean an end to nightly curfews that have choked economic life, although state media said the army had not received instructions to lift the curfew. It now stretches from 1 to 5am, apart from Fridays, when it begins at 7pm.
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood says the state of emergency has given extra legal cover to a crackdown on the movement: security forces have killed hundreds of Morsi’s supporters and arrested thousands more since his July 3 downfall.
Some 250 members of the security forces have been killed in militant attacks since then, most of them in the lawless Sinai Peninsula where security sources said an officer was killed in an attack on a police station yesterday.
The army-installed administration led by President Adly Mansour says it wants to restore stability as it seeks to revive an economy pummelled in upheaval since the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the military, enjoys popular support among many Egyptians although his critics fear the new government aims to revive the autocratic ways of the Mubarak era.
The state of emergency and curfew had been due to last a month, but the government extended it for two more months on September 12.
Underscoring tensions in the Arab world’s largest nation, supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood clashed with security forces at two universities north of Cairo in the cities of Zagazig and Mansoura.
In Mansoura, four people were hurt in the clashes that also involved local residents. In Zagazig, security sources said five people were wounded.