{"id":953,"date":"2018-06-05T15:15:26","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T15:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2018-06-05T15:15:26","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T15:15:26","slug":"jordan-senate-meets-as-protests-over-imf-backed-austerity-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=953","title":{"rendered":"Jordan senate meets as protests over IMF-backed austerity continue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AFP AMMAN: Jordan\u2019s senate met yesterday for a special session after another night of protests across the country against IMF-backed austerity measures including a draft income tax law and price hikes.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Some 3,000 people faced down a heavy security presence to gather near the prime minister\u2019s office in Amman until the early hours of last morning, waving Jordanian flags and signs reading \u201cwe will not kneel\u201d. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Protests have gripped the country since Wednesday, when hundreds responding to a call by trade unions, flooded the streets of Amman and other cities to demand the fall of the government. Last month, the government proposed a new income tax law, yet to be approved by parliament, aimed at raising taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 percent. The measures are the latest in a series of economic reforms since Amman secured a $723m three-year credit line from the International Monetary Fund in 2016. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The senate convened hours after protests ended yesterday to discuss \u201cways of dealing with draft law… in the interest of all parties\u201d, Jordan\u2019s official Petra news agency said. Senate speaker Faisal Al Fayez said there was a need for \u201ccomprehensive national dialogue\u201d on the law, echoing an earlier call by King Abdullah II. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fayez said the government should \u201cbalance economic challenges and pressures with the interests of different social sectors\u201d, but cautioned against violence and called on authorities to bring \u201ctroublemakers\u201d to justice. Since January, Jordan — which suffers from high unemployment and has few natural resources — has seen repeated price rises including on staples such as bread, as well as extra taxes on basic goods. The price of fuel has risen on five occasions since the beginning of the year, while electricity bills have shot up 55 percent since February.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The IMF-backed measures have sparked some of the biggest economic protests in five years. Overnight, protesters outside Prime Minister Hani Mulki\u2019s office shouted slogans including \u201cthe ones raising prices want to burn the country\u201d and \u201cthis Jordan is our Jordan, Mulki should leave\u201d. Demonstrators tussled with security forces and some fainted, but others smoked water pipes and one sat on the pavement and played the Arabian lute, or oud. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In another part of the city, security forces used tear gas to prevent hundreds of demonstrators from joining the rally near Mulki\u2019s office, Jordanian news websites reported. \u201cWomen have started looking in rubbish bins to find food for their children, and every day we\u2019re hit by price hikes and new taxes,\u201d said one protester. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bank employee Mohammad Shalabiya, 28, said demonstrators wanted \u201cto tell the government that the citizen\u2019s income isn\u2019t suitable for this kind of law and that we have a right to demonstrate\u201d. Lina Rsheidat, 35, a housewife with a red keffiyeh scarf around her neck, said the proposed law was \u201cunjust\u201d and would \u201charm the Jordanian people\u201d. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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According to official estimates, 18.5 percent of the population is unemployed, while 20 percent are on the brink of poverty. The Economist Intelligence Unit earlier this year ranked Jordan\u2019s capital as one of the most expensive in the Arab world. \u201cThe popular movement… has surprised the government,\u201d Adel Mahmoud, a Jordanian political analyst, said. Discontent could \u201csnowball… triggering a domestic crisis\u201d, he said, adding that he expected protests to continue until demands are met.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jordan, a key US ally, has largely avoided the unrest witnessed by other countries in the region since the Arab Spring revolts broke out in 2011, although protests did flare late that year after the government cut fuel subsidies.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP AMMAN: Jordan\u2019s senate met yesterday for a special session after another night of protests across the country against IMF-backed austerity measures including a draft income tax law and price hikes. \u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,46,57,90,96,107,137,139,157,168,171,174,191,194,201,202,209,232,233,244,246,249,256,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amman","tag-aramco","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-imf","tag-jordan","tag-king-abdullah","tag-lebanon","tag-mohammad-shalabiya","tag-mulki","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}