Jordan unrest over end of fuel subsidies

AMMAN // Hundreds of Jordanians attacked police officers and burnt tyres in the streets while 120,000 teachers went on strike yesterday in the second day of counrywide protests against the government's decision to lift fuel subsidies and raise prices.

Yesterday's action came a day after more than a thousand protestors gathered in Amman in a rare show of criticism against King Abdullah.

The government's decision to implement a price hike, followed by an 11 per cent increase in public transport fares, drew sharp condemnation from the opposition Islamists, who warned of civil disobedience in the run-up to January's general elections they are boycotting.

Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood had planned demonsrations in Amman yesterday to demand a repeal of the subsidy cuts.

"The regime must be held accountable if it wants to maintain stability and security in the country, because this decision is unpopular and we, as the opposition, are part of the people and represent their demands," said Murad Adayleh of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Islamic Action Front.

Protesters took to the streets in 13 cities on Tuesday and the rallies continued in Maan, Taflah, Aqaba, Theiban, Shoubak and Amman yesterday.

In Amman, cab drivers joined the stike and riots also erupted in Naour on the outskirts of the capital yesterday when angry protesters blocked a main road leading to the Dead Sea. Protesters pelted police cars with stones, burnt tyres and set fire to bins, demanding the government to step down.

Police had increased security and blocked roads to leading to the interior ministry square where a huge demonstration was planned for the evening.

But activists trickled in the area and chanted "freedom is from God, whether you like it or not Abdullah".

"If the government doesn't retract its decision, the country is going to be on fire," said a female university student.

Jordan's prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, announced the unpopular measures on Tuesday, which were introduced to secure a US$2 billion (Dh7.3bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund designed to reverse a ballooning budget deficit projected to reach $3.5 billion this year.

To help Jordan's poorest residents cope with the 54 per cent increase in cooking gas and 33 per cent rise in diesel and kerosene, Mr Ensour said that the government would offer cash handouts.

But for ordinary Jordanians such as Ali Awwad, 43, an accountant and father of five who earns about $500 a month, "the situation has become impossible".

"How am I going to cope?" he said. "Where am I going to get money for this?

Although public criticism of the king, who has the final say in all civic matters, is punishable by a three-year prison term, protesters tried unsuccessfully to take down his portrait from a billboard in Amman on Tuesday and shouted slogans against him.

Mohammad Khatib, a police spokesperson, estimated there was $1.4 million of damage to government buildings and torched police and civilian vehicles during the riots on Tuesday. A mob of 100 gathered outside Mr Ensour's residence in the city of Salt.

Jordan's public security department said 10 police officers and four civilians were injured by gunfire during those demonstrations, the English-language Jordan Times newspaper reported yesterday.

Two-dozen people have arrested in connection with the attacks,

The spectre of instability has risen with the rise of public denunciations of King Abdullah, an important ally of the United States who oversees Jordan's peace treaty with Israel.

He has struggled to meet the demands of a growing protest movement calling for more curbs to his powers as well as a poorly performing economy.

On top of the $20 billion in public debt, multiple attacks on an Egyptian pipeline feeding Jordan natural gas has forced it to use costlier fuels for electricity production.

* With additional reporting by Associated Press and Agence France-Presse