Saturday, April 02, 2011

AMMAN: Jordanian police separated hundreds of government supporters and pro-reform activists holding rival rallies outside the municipal offices in the capital of Amman Friday.
No one was hurt, in contrast to clashes a week earlier between the two sides, when riot police intervened. One man died and about 120 others were hurt. It was the first significant violence in three months of weekly protests.

King Abdullah II has condemned the violence and vowed to fight attempts to “sabotage” the country’s reform drive.
In downtown Amman, a peaceful group of students, Facebook activists, and Islamists chanted: “Reform now. We want to elect the prime minister,” and held a huge Jordanian flag.

The protesters have been gathering in the center of Amman Fridays, demanding political reforms.
They want the king to relinquish some of his absolute powers and demand that Parliament be dissolved and new elections held. They say the current legislature is skewed by an election law that drew boundaries guaranteeing that the king’s supporters would control the house.

As a backdrop to these complaints are severe economic problems, including high unemployment and rising prices for staple products, the result of higher energy costs.
The protests have not directly targeted the king, who has pledged to push for reforms and has chastised his prime minister for not moving fast enough, while convening a wide-ranging dialogue committee.

About 400 protesters faced off against about the same number of pro-government demonstrators nearby Friday. Police kept the two sides apart.
Medical student Ayoub Manour,19, said he and other youth activists were concerned about their safety, but he said this has only spurred them to continue until their demands are met.

“Whoever thought this violence would stop us from coming out and asking for reforms is ignorant,” he said.
Zaki Bani Ersheid, political chief of Jordan’s largest opposition movement, the Islamic Action Front, said his group is not frightened.

“The legitimate rights of Jordan’s youth must be upheld,” he said. “We will continue to press for our demands for reform through street protests.” Bani Ersheid’s group has demanded formation of a new government.
A government-appointed committee for national dialogue has suspended its work after 15 of its members quit over the clashes, but following a meeting with the king, 12 of them retracted their resignations.

“We urge the king’s direct intervention through a major reform initiative to prevent sedition, defuse the crisis, ensure freedoms, introduce true political change and avert division,” said a statement by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shuras Council. – AP, AFP