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Jordan police tear-gas jobless protesters

AMMAN - Jordanian police in the southern city of Tafileh fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse angry stone-throwing demonstrators who called on authorities to make good on their promise of jobs, the governor said.

“Scores of unemployed men blocked the main road in the city, throwing stones at government buildings as well as police,” Hashem Sehiem told the state-run Petra news agency.

“They broke the windows of the municipality building and burned tyres. This promoted police to fire tear gas to break up the protest,” Sehiem added.

Petra reported “traffic in Tafileh came to a standstill, preventing many people from reaching government buildings, shops and petrol stations.”

“The protesters say they met earlier this month with Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh, who promised to create 120 jobs by January 20, but nothing happened,” Petra said.

Sehiem said finding the jobs “takes time.”

The news agency said the protesters “have been looking for jobs for years, and now they can no longer provide themselves with basic commodities.”

While Jordan’s official unemployment rate stands at 13 percent, unofficially the rate is closer to 30 percent.

Jordanians have been protesting since January last year demanding sweeping political and economic reforms and an end to corruption.