Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Thousands of Jordanians called on the government to resign in protests in varius cities on Friday over a rise in fuel and electricity prices they claim are “strangling” citizens.

In a so-called Friday “no to price hikes,” thousands of independent and youth activists rallied from Mafraq to Aqaba, warning of a “popular uprising” over the government’s “unjust” economic policies.

In a downtown Amman rally, some 300 activists called for the resignation of the Fayez Tarawneh government, warning decision-makers of citizens’ “hunger and anger” and chanting “the people have decided- no price rises.”

Protestors also called for the formation of a national “salvation government” to confront an emerging economic crisis they attributed to corruption, a lack of strategic planning and heavy borrowing from international financial institutions.

Activists warned authorities of rising public anger over price rises and previously announced austerity measures - policies they believe will be a “turning point” for the protest movement.

“The public are sick and tired of paying the bill for corruption and government’s mistakes and they have realized that political change is the only answer,” said Fakher Daas, organiser of the Popular Youth Coalition for Change.

“Today marks the real beginning of the Jordanian popular movement.”

The recent raise in electricity rates and fuel prices were also the subject of protests in the outlying governorates, with hundreds of protestors rallying against rising poverty in Mafraq, Karak, Tafileh, Maan, Salt, Aqaba and Jerash.

The recent price hikes sparked a “day of anger” in Irbid, where dozens of protestors called for a “peaceful revolution” against the government and “reform forces that persecute citizens daily.”

Friday marked the largest protests that did not feature the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood - the largest political group in the Kingdom and the driving force behind Jordan’s 17-month-old protest drive.

Meanwhile, the Islamist movement led a small-scale pro-reform march in the Hussein Camp in Amman - the first demo organised by the Muslim Brotherhood in a refugee camp since the start of the Arab Spring.

Friday’s demos were the latest in a series of protests over a recent government decision last week to increase fuel prices and introduce a new electricity tariff raising rates across several sectors as high as 150 per cent.

Energy officials point out that that the new tariff - which aims to reduce the National Electric Power Company’s (NEPCO) JD1.5 billion deficit over a 11-year period - exempts households, commercial outlets and small- and medium-industries from any increase.

Activists counter that the measure will indirectly impact citizens - particularly through their water and telecommunications bills.

The raise in electricity rates comes amid ongoing disruptions to the Kingdom’s Egyptian gas supplies, which has pushed that national energy bill to a record JD4 billion and NEPCO’s electricity generation costs to 192 fils per kilowatt hour - over twice the rate it sells electricity to consumers.

Last week’s price hikes were the first of a series of “drastic” policies and austerity measures the government says aim to address a JD2.9 billion budget deficit and an overall economic situation officials describe as “worse than previously believed.”


* Jordan Times / By Taylor Luck