The state of emergency and curfew, set in place by the interim government to combat political unrest since August, finally ended on Wednesday, Prime Minister al-Beblawy announced on the Egyptian satellite channel Al-Hayat.
The decision came as a result of a court ruling on Tuesday at 4pm, ending curfew two days earlier than originally planned .
Despite the ruling, the interim government gave mixed messages on whether the curfew would still be enforced. Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Ali had said the military would still enforce curfew Tuesday night until it received official word from the interim government of the court order, which Ahram Online reported it had not yet received.
At the beginning of the normal curfew on Tuesday night at 1am, however, some residents reported to Egypt Independent that some army checkpoints, such as in Bab el-Louk, were no longer present.
On Wednesday morning, the cabinet had announced the curfew would, in fact, end on Thursday as previously announced. Later, the prime minister’s announcement confirmed the curfew and state of emergency had already ended.
The state of emergency was a move to enhance security and restore order after the ouster by the army of former President Mohamed Morsy, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood. Protests ensued following his removal, to which the army responded heavy-handedly.
Political unrest in Egypt’s major cities seems to have died down since the curfew was first put in place on 14 August during the peak of political turmoil after the dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda Square sit-ins.
Meanwhile, the curfew in south Sinai was officially lifted on Tuesday, according to a statement on Monday by the Tourism Minister Hesham Zaazou.
The decision came after Zaazou presented detailed reports of his visit to top countries exporting tourism to Egypt to Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy.
Zaazou has held several successful meetings with political and tourism decision-makers in those countries, which resulted in reducing their travel warnings issued against visiting Egypt and led to improving recent tourist traffic to the country. Tourism in Egypt is expected to pick up by the end of this year.