Jordanians seek king’s removal
Protests over fuel price hikes blame Abdullah II
AMMAN — Calls for the ouster of Jordan’s King Abdullah II grew Friday, as thousands of protesters packed the streets of the capital and demonstrations resumed elsewhere.
Larger groups have demonstrated in Amman since the unrest sparked by fuel price hikes started three days ago, but Friday’s march constituted the biggest single bloc yet to call for the end of the U.S.-backed monarch’s regime. The crowd of about 2,500 also chanted slogans reminiscent of last year’s uprisings in the region.
Jordan, a key U.S. ally, has so far weathered nearly two years of Arab unrest that has seen longtime rulers toppled in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia. Its own street protests calling for political reforms have largely been peaceful and rarely targeted King Abdullah II himself.
Protests across the country turned unusually violent this week, with one person killed and 75 others, including 58 police officers, injured. Overall turnout on Friday was smaller than in past days in Amman and elsewhere, however, with crowds varying from about 150 people in the southern town of Tafila to 3,000 in the northern city of Irbid.
The protesters, frustrated over a sharp increase in fuel and gas prices, were led by a hodgepodge of activists that included the largely secular Hirak youth movement, the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, and various nationalist and left-wing groups.
Jordan is plagued by poverty, unemployment and high inflation.
“I already can barely feed my four children with my monthly wage of $500, how can I afford this price increase?” asked Thaer Mashaqbeh, 47, a civil servant protesting in central Amman, as the crowd chanted: “The people want to topple the regime,” and “Abdullah, you either reform or you go.”
The government has defended the price increases, saying they were necessary to reduce a massive budget deficit and foreign debt — part of Jordan’s efforts to secure a badly needed $2-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to shore up the kingdom’s shaky finances.