New clashes erupted in southern Amman yesterday, hours after parliament ousted a lawmaker who had strongly protested power outages in several Jordanian cities, a security source said.
“Class powers are faced with new riots and shots in the air” in Nur, on the suburbs of Amman, said this source on public television.
Police “are stepping up their presence and setting up checkpoints around the city to arrest those who break the law,” he added.
The new riots erupted after parliament voted yesterday to oust 40-year-old MP Usama al-Ajarma, who had protested the May 21 power outage in Amman and elsewhere. Four police officers were injured and taken to hospital on Saturday night as they tried to “put an end to the riots, airstrikes and car fires” in Nauru, public security spokesman Amer al-Satrawi said earlier.
Eyewitnesses said the protesters were supporters of Ajarma, who was initially ousted by parliament for a year.
The MP had demanded an immediate plenary debate on the power outage, but the speaker of parliament refused. As a sign of protest, Adjarma resigned on June 2.
Authorities cited a fault on the high-voltage line between Jordan and Egypt. But the lawmaker accused the government of deliberately cutting off power to prevent gas pumps from running out of gas and blocking a route to Amman, which was planned by Jordanian tribes in support of the Palestinian struggle.
In recent weeks, amid clashes in East Jerusalem Mosque Square and the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, many pro-Palestinian demonstrations have taken place in Jordan.
