Jordanians Continue Fuel Protests As Gov’t Warns against Violence

One police officer was killed during a riot in the southern city of Maan a day earlier, Al Jazeera reported.

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.

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.

Several highways linking the capital Amman to other governorates including Irbid and Karak have been shut down.

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 price rises have squeezed household incomes and hit lower-income groups disproportionately.

On Friday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II extended condolences to the family of the slain policeman.

“We will not tolerate violence against our security personnel, who work day and night to protect Jordan and Jordanians,” he said, according to Jordan’s Roya news.

Meanwhile, the head of the Public Security Directorate (PSD), Major General Obaidallah Maaytah, said 49 security personnel sustained injuries in confrontations with protesters so far, according to Jordan’s Roya news.

Overnight, riot police chased youths throwing stones in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and other cities where Farrayeh, the interior minister, said rioters torched public property, vandalized state buildings and burned tires that closed major highways across the kingdom.

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.

Because of “incitement to violence and calls for chaos,” the PSD cybercrime unit said it suspended operations of the TikTok social video app inside the kingdom, “after its misuse”.

The PSD said it protects freedom of opinion and peaceful expression, but would use “appropriate” force against rioters and vandals.