The protests in Jordan spread over the weekend from the south of the kingdom to the capital Amman and thousands of demonstrators called for the overthrow of the regime.
The demonstrations began in South Jordan already about two weeks ago, in protest of the increase in fuel prices, first the truck drivers demonstrated and announced a strike, then they were joined by taxi and bus drivers, in several cities there was also a trade strike.
During the dispersal of the demonstrations in South Jordan, one of the police commanders was shot dead by armed gunmen .
It was the Ma’an police in the rank of colonel named Abd al-Razzaq al-Dalabich and 48 security personnel were injured, the Jordanian security forces arrested 44 rioters.
The Jordanian army will increase its forces in the south of the kingdom to prevent further demonstrations.
Many Jordanian citizens distributed videos of the riots that broke out in southern Jordan and the capital region and the Jordanian authorities responded by shutting down the Tik Tok app for a few hours.
King Abdullah accompanied by Crown Prince Hussein ben Abdullah and Chief of Staff General Abid Allah Almu’aita paid a condolence visit to the city of Jarash at the house of the slain officer who belongs to the Bani Hassan tribe.
The king told the media representatives that Jordan will not accept attacks on its security forces and state institutions and that “all measures will be taken to deal with all lawbreakers”.
The king also referred to the difficult economic situation in the kingdom and said that the “citizens have the right to express their opinion peacefully”.
Jordan is suffering from a severe economic crisis that was made even worse by the Corona crisis, the unemployment rate of the younger generation has reached 50 percent, the poverty line is 24 percent and the national debt has reached 47 billion dollars.
The strike of the truck, taxi and bus drivers in the last two weeks brought the Aqaba port and dozens of factories to a standstill.
Following the riots that broke out, the USA called on its citizens not to visit South Jordan.
King Abdullah is very concerned about the outbreak of riots in South Jordan and their spread to the capital Amman.
He fears that radical Islamic elements inside Jordan and hostile elements outside Jordan will try to inflame the riots to destabilize his regime.
He ordered the Jordanian army to capture the gunmen who shot at the police forces in southern Jordan, murdering the deputy chief of the Ma’an police and wounding dozens of security personnel.
The Jordanian army prepared for a large-scale military operation together with the general security forces to capture what were defined as “armed terrorists”.
The king uses the “carrot and stick” method, he announced that he was ready for a civil protest about the difficult economic situation without violence to let off steam, but on the other hand he ordered the Jordanian security forces to suppress with great force any new manifestations of violence.
Jordanian security officials estimate that drug dealers in southern Jordan tried to inflame the riots and that they are responsible for the use of live gunfire towards the Jordanian police forces to create security chaos.
It is estimated that the king will have to act to lower fuel prices in order to calm the Jordanian street.
The fear is that the continuation of the demonstrations will lead to the resignation of the government or that the king will dissolve it in order to calm the wave of protest.
In Jordan, there is increasing criticism of the government that fails to find economic solutions to the crisis and adopts a short-sighted policy, so far the government has failed to address all economic issues, which has resulted in the flight of investors and the increase in unemployment rates.
