Government says outside forces inciting unrest as Jordanian protesters don yellow jackets

Protesters in Jordan began wearing yellow vests as demonstrations over high unemployment and the economy spread outside the capital.

The government accused opposition forces outside the country of inciting the unrest.

On Wednesday night, dozens of young men wore yellow vests during a protest in the port city of Aqaba, about 320 kilometres south of Amman, echoing the yellow-vest protests in France.

“All of the young men across ... Jordan want to work so they can help the state,” one yellow-vested protester told Al Ghad newspaper. “Women and men are stuck at home without work, there is unemployment, what can we do? That is what is driving us to the streets.”

“We are exploding,” another protester said. “For God’s sake, just employ us.”

Also on Wednesday evening, dozens of protesters in yellow vests used burning tyres to block the main road in the village of Taybeh, 100km north of Amman. The demonstrations are the first time the two-week youth protest movement has spread outside Amman.

The protests that began last month were ostensibly triggered by the recent passage of an unpopular income-tax law and high unemployment. More than 600 Jordanians gathered near the country’s prime ministry in Amman on Thursday night as tribes, political activists and professionals joined youth protesters for the first time.

Unions and political parties have maintained distance from the leaderless protest movement, with the Jordan Engineers Association on Wednesday denying it had called on its members to take part.

The Jordanian government on Thursday said opposition forces outside the kingdom were trying to “distort the internal situation for agendas not in the nation’s interests”, and warned against “taking advantage of the freedom of expression to incite chaos”.

Government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat accused “opposition abroad” of calling for a constitutional monarchy in Jordan and stirring up protests.

“We must pay attention to those who try to distort the civilised image of protests in Jordan and push it towards a suspicious path that harms the homeland, its security and stability,” Ms Ghunaimat said.

“This suspicious scene is linked to the tens of those who call themselves the ‘opposition abroad’ and Jordanians should be aware of this.”

She said the government was aware of the difficult economic climate and that the government and King Abdullah were following up on Jordanians’ living conditions.

“The state is not far from what is going on in the street and his majesty the king is fully aware of what the people are suffering from,” Ms Ghunaimat said.

On Thursday night tribes, political activists and professionals joined youth protesters for the first time