Jordan arrests 17 after anti-austerity rally
Seventeen Jordanians were arrested after about 2,000 protesters rallied in Amman to demonstrate against a fiscal reform bill.
The Attorney General decided to “arrest 17 people who he accused of participating the previous day in a protest near the prime minister’s office, and of provoking trouble in which members of the police and security forces were hurt”, a judicial source said.
Those arrested would be kept in custody for a week, the source said, without specifying how many police had been wounded.
Jordanians took to the streets on Thursday to demonstrate against an income tax law adopted last month as part of an austerity programme aimed at reducing public debt.
Some donned yellow fluorescent jackets similar to those of the Yellow Vests movement in France.
The protesters gathered near Prime Minister Omar Al Razzaz’s office, which was cordoned off by security forces.
“Down with the tax law,” read one sign, held up by demonstrators calling for “reforms and change”. “We want a government of patriots, not a gang of thieves,” the protesters chanted.
Tribes from across the country joined in dabkeh line dances and sang folk songs to warn the government of a “popular revolution” against taxes.
The protesters, who came from across the kingdom, denid government claims that they were being guided by external forces or political groups.
“There is no organiser, there is no outside influence,” Mahmoud Ababneh, 43, an Uber driver from a 100 kilometres north of the capital, told The National.
“Everyone is just coming on their own accord because they are fed up.
“We are seeing longer hours, work drying up and prices are rising, and the government’s only answer is to increase taxes. We can’t keep up any more.”
The Directorate of Public Security on Friday denied reports that its officers broke up the initial sit-in near the fourth circle in Amman. It said that police only intervened when the protesters moved from their original site and began to block roads.
Jordanian media reported that at least two police officers had been injured and five protesters had been arrested for possession of bladed weapons.
But reports cited activists on the ground saying those detained were leaders of the protest and had not been armed.