Government in Egypt Eases Restrictions CAIRO - Egypt's interim government lifted a state of emergency as well as a nighttime curfew late Thursday, signaling its growing confidence in its ability to impose security after the unrest that followed the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July. The monthslong curfew shuttered small businesses early, squeezed Egypt's ailing economy and deepened a sense of gloom from the political crisis. It fell at 7 p.m. on Fridays, the beginning of the weekend, silencing large parts of the noisy capital. The state of emergency was imposed on Aug. 14, when Egypt's security services stormed two squares in Cairo where Mr. Morsi's supporters were holding sit-ins, killing hundreds of protesters. The government was legally required to end the state of emergency after three months. Since Mr. Morsi's ouster on July 3, the authorities have eviscerated his Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoning thousands of members and most of its senior leadership. Under pressure from the security services, the movement's protests have become far smaller in many parts of the country than they were in August. At the same time, the government has developed other tools to limit demonstrations, including proposed antiprotest and antiterrorism laws that have raised concerns on the part of human rights groups. In a statement on a draft of the protest law last month, Amnesty International warned that it gave Egypt's security services "sweeping powers to arbitrarily deny permission for any planned protests on vaguely defined grounds such as "security or public order," "hampering citizens" interests" or "delaying traffic." " It was not clear whether the latest draft, which has been forwarded to Egypt's interim president, Adli Mansour, for approval, still contains its most controversial provisions. The degree to which the curfew had calmed the streets seemed likely to be tested as early as Friday, when Mr. Morsi's supporters traditionally hold their largest protests.