Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Public Security Department (PSD) on Saturday urged the public to observe the law, shun sabotage and keep protests peaceful, vowing zero tolerance with vandalism or any acts that disturb public order.

A PSD statement said that police, in coordination with Gendarmerie and other security agencies, had dealt with many peaceful protests and sit-ins across the Kingdom in the past 48 hours, ensuring the participants' constitutional right to express their opinion freely and exercising maximum self-restraint." Protests and rallies were staged in Amman and other cities in the past two days to demand the repeal of proposed amendments to the draft income tax law and fuel price hikes.

"The PSD is committed to this duty and approach when tackling such peaceful rallies and sit-ins in accordance with the provisions of the law, unless they lose their peacefulness and turn into acts of vandalism, damaging public and private property, blocking roads and disrupting traffic and the normal life of citizens," the statement said.

It said that during the past hours, some of the protesters had breached the law, perpetrating acts of sabotage and closing roads, assaulting police and gendarmerie personnel and attempting to sabotage public and private property, "which cannot be tolerated, and will be dealt with firmly and in accordance with the law." The PSD called on citizens to "place the national interest above any other considerations", preserve the country's security and stability and avoid sabotage that harms the national interest and capabilities, and to abide by the law and peaceful protest and "heed the instructions of police and gendarmerie officers who are there to protect them and safeguard their constitutional right to freely express their opinion."