Protest camp set up in Jordan capital
Demonstrators in Amman vow to continue with their sit-in until demands for
political reforms are met.
Last Modified: 24 Mar 2011 14:54
Demands of the protesters include ouster of the prime minister and changes to
election laws [Reuters]
Hundreds of Jordanians have set up a protest camp in a main square in the
capital to press demands for the ouster of the prime minister and wider public
freedoms.
The 500 protesters appeared to be mostly university students or unemployed
graduates unaffiliated with any political party.
Many said they met through Facebook last month to launch a group called the
Jordanian Youth Movement.
Ziad al-Khawaldeh, the group's spokesman, said protesters would remain outdoors
until Marouf al-Bakhit, the prime minister departs.
Other demands include dissolving what is widely seen as a docile parliament,
dismantling the largely feared intelligence department and giving greater
powers to the people.
'New Jordan'
The group changed its name on Thursday to "Youth of March 24" marking what
members said was the start of an open-ended demonstration.
"Today is the dawning of the Jordanian revolution," al-Khawaldeh said.
"We will not move an inch from here until our demands are met," he said under
pouring rain at the Interior Ministry Circle in the heart of Amman.
The district houses the interior ministry and police, financial and other
government offices as well as Western hotels.
Protesters waved banners that called for a "new Jordan, clean of corruption and
corrupt officials".
"Intelligence department, we want your hands off politics!" they chanted.
Al-Khawaldeh said the protesters want prime minister Marouf al-Bakhit to be
"instantly replaced with a liberal government that would quickly implement
reforms".
Al-Bakhit, a former army general, is widely regarded as a tough military
officer incapable of introducing changes demanded by protesters.
Those reforms include an election law replacing a one seen as favouring the
king's loyalists and blamed for producing a docile parliament, the only elected
body in Jordan's government.
Jordan's opposition also want to strip the king of some of his powers,
specifically in appointing the prime minister. Instead, they want the premier
to be elected by a popular vote.
Mohammed al-Qaisi, one of the protesters, said they want parliament to be
dissolved and new elections to be held under a new election law, giving more
proportional representation to Jordanians and reducing the number of votes in
districts inhabited by tribesmen, who form the bedrock of support for the king.
"Enough is enough," al-Qaisi, an unemployed sociologist, said.
"We don't want the king to go, but we want him to listen to us; We're fed up
with al-Bakhit, with parliament and with Jordan being a police state ruled by
the intelligence department."
Source:
Agencies
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