By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Thursday, January 06, 2011

AMMAN: Jordan’s government said Wednesday it has restored order to the restive southern city of Maan a day after violent riots sparked by the murder this week of two men in a labor dispute.

“Calm and order have been restored in Maan and police have started to investigate the incidents,” the country’s Interior Minister Saad Hayel Srour was quoted as saying by the state-run Petra news agency.
“The government will not tolerate any attempts to harm stability and security,” he continued.

Angry rioters went on the rampage Tuesday after the funeral of two men who were killed Monday by unknown assailants because they had been chosen over others to work on a major project in the city, a security official said.
According to police, more than 500 people set fire to municipality and court buildings as well as to police vehicles, police posts, civilian cars, shops and a petrol station.

“Police started a manhunt last night to search for weapons and arrest the killers as well as those who were behind the vandalism,” another security official said.

“According to witnesses, one man was responsible for the killings while eight other men are suspected of creating a fight that led to the murder of the two,” the official added.

Maan has a bloody and rebellious past that goes back to the turn of the last century, when the town was the seat of the Great Arab Revolt that crushed Ottoman rule.

In 1989, 12 people were killed when security forces intervened to put down riots over the cost of living.
Residents also clashed with police in January 2002 when a young man died during police detention. – A.F.P.