Protest after Jordan parliament dissolved

6 Oct 2012, 12:03 am   -   Source: AAP
King Abdullah II. (Getty)

King Abdullah II. (Getty)

There have been protests in Jordan after King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early polls without any major political change.

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Thousands of Islamists have demonstrated in central Amman to call for reforms, just hours after Jordan's King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early polls without any major political change.

"We demand constitutional reform before the people revolt. The people want to reform the regime," they chanted in the demonstration outside Al-Husseini mosque in downtown Amman on Friday.

AFP correspondents estimated the crowd at 15,000.

"Democratic electoral law, constitutional changes, parliamentary governments, independent judiciary, constitutional court, effective anti-corruption efforts and preventing security services from interfering in political life," read a large banner carried by protesters.

Police said they prevented a group of youths from attacking the demonstrators, arresting eight people who were found to be carrying firearms in three minibuses heading into central Amman.

"We have been protesting for more than 20 months and you still do not understand our demands. We do not like demonstrations but we love Jordan," read another banner.

The demonstration was the latest in a series of protests in Jordan since January 2011 to call for political and economic reforms and to demand an end to corruption.

The king decided to dissolve the chamber of deputies on Thursday and to call early elections, the royal palace said. It gave no date, although the monarch has said he wants polls by the end of 2012.

But the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said it was going ahead with its planned rally in central Amman after Friday prayers, predicting about 50,000 supporters would attend.

A rival demonstration backing the king's plans, due to be held in the same location as the opposition protest, was "postponed indefinitely ... to avoid any problems", said an organiser, Jihad al-Sheik.

About 200,000 people had been expected at the rally to support the king's reform efforts.

The Brotherhood has said it would boycott polling to protest the lack of meaningful reforms.

It demands a parliamentary system where the premier is elected.

"I am telling the Muslim Brotherhood that they are making a tremendous miscalculation" with their threat to boycott, the king told AFP in an exclusive interview last month.

Other opposition parties are also considering a boycott over a new law under which voters cast two ballots - one for candidates in their constituencies and one for nationwide party lists.

The king ordered parliament to increase the number of seats for party candidates to persuade the Islamists to take part.

MPs raised the number from 17 to 27, but that wasn't enough for the opposition.

"This elections law is not perfect. We all understand that. But there is no better consensus on an alternative. What is critical is that we keep going forward," the king said.

"So I am telling the Muslim Brotherhood, you have a choice. To stay in the street or to help build the new democratic Jordan."

The Islamists boycotted Jordan's last elections saying constituency boundaries over-represented loyalist rural areas at the expense of urban areas seen as Islamist strongholds.

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