AMMAN: Jordanians staged sit-ins on Friday and activists called for more protests over fuel price rises that have added to a cost-of-living squeeze, a day after riots in a southern city left one police officer dead, witnesses and security sources said.
The authorities said the policeman was killed on Thursday night by a gunshot fired by an unidentified individual when armed officers entered a neighborhood of Maan to quell riots. Youths had attacked government property in the city, witnesses said.
King Abdullah and Crown Prince El Hassan bin Talal on Friday extended condolences to the family of Col. Abdulrazzaq Dalabeeh, the deputy police director of Maan Governorate, Petra News Agency reported.
According to a royal court statement, King Abdullah reaffirmed that violence against the state, vandalism of public property, and violating Jordanians’ rights will be dealt with firmly, stressing that assaults and acts of vandalism are dangerous threats to national security and will not be tolerated.
He expressed his deepest sympathies and condolences to Dalabeeh’s family, describing him as the son of all Jordanians and adding, “we will not rest until the criminal is brought to justice.”
“We will not tolerate violence against our security personnel, who work day and night to protect Jordan and Jordanians,” the king stressed.
He also acknowledged Jordanians’ difficult economic conditions and their right to peaceful self-expression within the law, highlighting that state institutions will take all measures to hold outlaws to account.
Jordan’s Public Security said heavy security has been deployed in the kingdom’s governorates to “ensure the enforcement of the rule of law and maintain the security of citizens.”
It said that it had dealt with riots in a number of regions and arrested 44 people, who “will be referred to the competent authorities, in addition to those who were arrested in the previous days.”
It added that there was a noticeable decline in the number of riot units since Thursday, especially in the southern governorates.
It also said that investigations into Dalabeeh’s death are continuing and will not end until the perpetrator is arrested.
Tensions have mounted in Maan and several cities in southern Jordan in particular after sporadic strikes by truck drivers protesting against high fuel prices and demanding cuts in diesel prices. Fuel rises have added to the squeeze on households.
Interior Minister Mazen Farrayeh told a news conference that the government will apply tough steps and redeploy more anti-riot police against demonstrators who protest violently.
“We have seen a large jump in violent acts,” he said. “After what happened, there will be tougher security measures to reinforce the security forces in the areas that witness such acts.”
Although the streets were calm on Friday, sporadic protests continued with a sit-in in front of Maan’s main mosque and a mosque in the capital Amman after Friday prayers, while activists called for more demonstrations.
Overnight, riot police chased scores of youths throwing stones in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and other cities where Farrayeh said rioters torched public property, vandalized state buildings and burned tires that closed major highways across the kingdom.
The US, a close ally of Jordan, on Thursday said US government personnel had been restricted from both personal and official travel to the provinces of Karak, Tafilah, Maan, and Aqaba until further notice.
This was because of “reports of ongoing protests, burning tires, and throwing stones at vehicles on streets and highways throughout Jordan and particularly in the south,” the US embassy in Jordan said.
Internet users and activists said Internet services faced slowdowns in several regions, disrupting social media platforms activists used to share footage of clashes with police.
The government has promised to examine truck strikers’ demands but says it has already paid more than 500 million dinars ($700 million) to cap fuel prices this year and cannot do much more if it wants to avoid breaching an International Monetary Fund deal.
Other protests in recent years have usually been peaceful and involved demands for democratic reforms and calls to curb corruption.
(With Reuters and AFP)
