Jordanians protest for reforms
Published: Sep 23, 2011 22:55 Updated: Sep 23, 2011 22:55
AMMAN: Hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated across the country on Friday calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit’s government, the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Amman.
The Muslim Brotherhood movement organized a protest after Friday prayers at the Nazzal neighborhood in South Amman under the slogan “Against Injustices and Corruption.”
Speakers during the rally criticized the government for its failure to carry out the needed political reform and pointed out that the proposed amendments to the constitution were not sufficient for the required change.
“The present government is not capable of adopting the required reforms,” said Musa Wahsha, a leading member of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the Brotherhood’s political arm.
Member of the IAF Consultative Council, Hikmat Rawashdeh, called for “an election law that really represents the people, the cessation of the security authorities’ interference in politics and serious constitutional amendments that ensure the formation of parliamentary governments”.
Dozens of activists demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Amman’s Rabia neighbourhood calling for the closure of the Israeli diplomatic mission and the abrogation of the peace treaty which Jordan concluded with the Jewish state in 1994.
They chanted slogans against Israeli schemes which they said sought to establish an “alternative homeland” for Palestinians in Jordan.
They referred to a move by the right-wing Israeli lawmaker Arieh Eldad who presented a petition to the Knesset three days ago, envisaging a substitute state for Palestinians in Jordan instead of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
However, demonstrators at Rabia expressed opposition to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ UN bid, calling for a state on the entirety of the historical Palestinian land, where Israel was founded in 1948.
Similar demonstrations were also reported in the cities of Tafileh, Karak, Zarqa, Irbid, Jerash and Salt.