Curfew hours, which originally were set to begin at 7pm, will instead start at 9pm “in response to popular demand,” according to a cabinet statement on Saturday.

The curfew will still be observed from 7pm on Fridays, when higher turnouts for demonstrations are expected throughout the country, and will  end at 6am.

Curfews in the 14 governorates and a month-long state of emergency were put into effect on 14 August, the day sit-ins supporting ousted president Mohamed Morsi were dispersed at Al-Nahda Square and Rabaa Al-Adaweya.

Last week, Al-Ahram journalist Tamer Abdel-Raouf was killed at a military checkpoint in the Beheira governorate. The armed forces said the journalist violated the curfew and refused to heed warning shots and stop at the checkpoint, although journalists are officially exempt from adhering to the hours set by the cabinet.