Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Interior minister Hussein Majali said on Sunday that 158 wanted people had been arrested, while 19 others were being hunted after the shooting of five gendarmerie personnel in the city of Maan last week. But he insisted no security crackdown was underway in the southern city.

Briefing lawmakers on riots triggered by the police killing of a local citizen in the southern city, the minister said life returned to normal yesterday, praising "the unequalled" cooperation of Maanis with security forces and local authorities. He also thanked the "people of goodwill" from Maan and outside the governorate for their role in restoring calm. Majali told a Lower House session, chaired by Speaker Atef Tarawneh and attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and cabinet ministers, that security bodies had not targeted any group or any Maan residents for their political affiliation or religious creed, but were enforcing the law and pursuing fugitives.

He stressed that law enforcement was not meant to dehumanize individuals or reduce services to them, calling for drawing a distinction between security work and humanitarian work.

The minister referred to His Majesty King Abdullah's gesture, in which he ordered the transfer of a critically injured Maan resident to the Al Hussein Medical Centre in Amman for treatment, at the King’s expense.

Addressing the session on behalf of the Al Nahda (Renaissance) parliamentary bloc, Maan deputy Amjad Al Khattab said the city's residents support the arrest of all fugitives, but "it is inadmissible to punish an entire city for their deeds." He suggested a reconsideration of the security strategy "applied against those wanted in Maan" and also called for seriously addressing the problems of poverty and unemployment, noting that development had been lacking in the governorate.

*Petra