Ethiopia’s state broadcaster says the government has lifted parts of the state of emergency imposed in October while claiming the “restoration of law and order in many parts of the country.”

The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday cited Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa as saying that arbitrary arrests without court orders and conducting searches without court papers will stop.

 

Also being lifted are bans and restrictions imposed on radio, television and theater. And prohibitions on unauthorized movements around infrastructure facilities and factories from dawn to dusk have been repealed.

 

Ethiopia’s government declared the state of emergency on Oct. 9 in an effort to calm months of deadly protests across the country, especially in the restive Oromia region. Demonstrators were demanding wider political freedoms.

 

The state of emergency ends in May.

 
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