Egypt state of emergency to be lifted in November

Wednesday 23-10-2013 12:45 PM
Egypt state of emergency to be lifted in November

Egyptian army secures entrances to Tahrir Square on Friday, September 6, 2013.

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Egypt will not extend its currently imposed state of emergency, that is scheduled to end on November 14, a cabinet media advisor said to a local newspaper on Wednesday.

“The government has no intention to extend the emergency law on account of the latest incident of violence in Waraq church,” Sherif Shawqi told al-Masry al-Youm newspaper.

Some media outlets have speculated that the government might extend the emergency law after four people were killed and 18 were wounded in a violent attack on a wedding ceremony in a church in a Cairo suburb on Sunday night.

The government has imposed a state of emergency for one month since August 14 after its crackdown on two protest camps that were staged by Islamists in support of deposed President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo.

The state of emergency was then extended for two more months through a decree issued by Egypt’s interim President Adli Mansour, appointed on July 3 following Mursi’s ouster, following a rise in violent incidents across the country.

The state of emergency cannot be extended for more than three months except after the people’s approval in a public referendum, according to the constitutional decree that currently regulates Egypt’s transitional phase.

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