Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Several protests launched on Friday throughout the Kingdom expressed solidarity with the general strike implemented by public sector teachers and supported their demands, considering them part and parcel of the reform process in the country.

The pro-reform protests, carried out almost every Friday since the beginning of 2011, commenced today in calling for genuine reform measures and blasted corruption and sale of public institutions amid a heated week that saw the arrest and detention of former intelligence chief Mohammad Dahabi on graft charges, and controversy in the parliament over investigating mega-corruption files including the murky sale of the National Phosphates Company.

In downtown Amman, hundreds marched from Al Husseini Mosque following Friday midday prayers calling for granting teachers their full demands, including the pay raises that were endorsed several years ago but never dispensed to public sector teachers.

Protesters blasted media outlets, particularly radio stations, which criticized the teachers' strike and undermined their demands.

Teachers throughout the kingdom have went into an open strike since the beginning of the academic semester last week, stressing that the strike comes after continued government stalling in granting them their rights - according to their expression.

The protest in Amman witnessed heavy security presence, which worked to buffer between the pro-reform protest and a counter protest nearby.

In the southern governorates of Ma'an and Tafileh, protesters demanded reclaiming public companies that were privatized in dubious deals in the past decade, including the Phosphates company.

They also called for holding officials accountable for squandering and embezzlement of public funds and resources.

Organizers stressed that peaceful protests will continue until genuine reform and anti-corruption measures are implemented.

The National Committee for a Teachers' Syndicate took part in the protest in Tafileh, stressing that the teachers' demands are part and parcel of the reform process in the kingdom.

Meanwhile in Ma'an, protesters also blasted the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and burnt flags of China and Russia, permanent members of the UN Security Council that vetoed measures against Syria last week.

Protesters in Ma'an called on the Jordanian government to expel the Syrian Ambassador from Amman, and commended Arab and foreign states that have done so in a stance against the atrocities committed against the Syrian people, according to their expression.