JORDAN: Hundreds protest against prime minister

Inspired by Egypt's uprising, hundreds of Jordanians on Friday staged a protest against their prime minister, installed just days earlier in response to anti-government marches, the Associated Press reported.

Friday's turnout was much smaller than previous protests against rising prices.

Jordan's King Abdullah II tried to preempt further unrest by removing his Cabinet earlier this week and installing a new prime minister, Marouf Bakhit, amid promises of political reform.

One of the leaders of the country's primary opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, told the AP that they were confident after meeting with the king and Bakhit.

"We are very optimistic that change will happen," Nimer Assaf said after Friday prayers at a mosque near the prime minister's office where the activists gathered.

He said the opposition would give the new government a chance and that he did not expect further protests.

Friday's protesters in Amman included Islamists and supporters of other opposition groups.

Small protests took place in three other towns in Jordan.

"We want jobs and an end to corruption, which is making government officials rich on the expense of poor people like me," Mahmoud Abu-Seif, 29, told the Associated Press as he joined about 150 marchers in the city of Karak.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: Demonstrators march through the streets from the Al Husseini Mosque to protest the appointment of new Prime Minister, Marouf Bakhit on February 4, 2011 in Amman, Jordan. Credit: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images 

 

Comments

[Katie shelton]

This article is about Jordan and, the hundreds protest against the prime minister.