King Abdullah under pressure after furious subjects urge support for Saddam

Protesters braved unseasonal snow storms in Amman, the Jordanian capital, yesterday to shout their defiance of the American and British invasion of Iraq. There were the usual slogans against Israel and American imperialism. But there were other slogans too. Some were openly critical of Jordan's own government.

Unlike in Egypt, where angry crowds have condemned President Hosni Mubarak for not doing more to stop the war in Iraq, Jordanians were still "sticking to the rules" and no one went so far as to criticise King Abdullah. They can criticise the Prime Minister, Ali Abu al-Ragheb, an appointee of Adbullah's, but not the King himself.

There was plenty of criticism of Mr Ragheb, but the Jordanian police, usually far from tolerant of street protests, held back and kept their wooden batons to themselves, apparently under orders to go easy on the protesters. The Jordanian government has said it will allow protests.

King Abdullah made an address to the nation last week in which he called on Jordan's people to keep calm. They had a right to be angry, he told them, but he also delivered a warning that they had to obey the law.

King Abdullah is walking a tightrope. For years his small kingdom, trapped between Iraq and Israel, Syria and Saudi Arabia, mostly desert with few natural resources, has thrived on its status as an American ally. But now he is under intense pressure from the United States to assist its invasion of Iraq. And equally intense pressure from his people to oppose it.

The fury all around the Arab world at the war in Iraq is seething here too. Jordanians at yesterday's protest were calling for the American and British embassies to be closed, and for the Jordanian government to open the border with Iraq so they could go and fight alongside the Iraqis against the invading Americans.

What incenses them are reports that US troops are secretly using Jordan as a base to attack western Iraq. The US has said it has captured two strategic airfields in Iraq's western desert, which could have been used to launch missiles at Israel, and there are reports that US and British special forces have been involved in fighting to take control of western Iraq. The Jordanian government has admitted there are some 6,000 US troops in Jordan, but insists they are only there to train local troops and help defend the country against Iraqi missile attack.

But out in the desert, on the road to Iraq, strange convoys pass under cover of dark. Reporters have seen a US army jeep speed through the border town of Ruwaished towards Iraq. And American warplanes can be seen taking off from an air base in the desert.

Public anger in Jordan has been further fuelled by a rumour that planes heard overhead at night were Israeli bombers on their way to Iraq – even though there is no evidence that Israeli planes have been involved in the war, and the jets could easily have come from elsewhere.

One of the reasons Jordanians are so angry is that many believe Iraq has been a good neighbour.

Until the outbreak of war, the Jordanian border was almost Iraq's only link to the outside world – the other border states were all hostile.

The Jordanian economy has been boosted by Iraqi oil tankers heading through to the port city of Aqaba, and, more crucially, Iraq supplied Jordan with most of its oil at knock-down prices.

The Iraqi-Jordanian border is actually a few dozen miles further east than it was in 1991 – you can see the old border outpost lying empty in the desert. Saddam Hussein gave Jordan a stretch of desert said to contain natural gas deposits at the border as a gift to thank the country for not siding with the Americans during the 1991 Gulf War. There will be no gifts this time.

So far Amman remains calm, but signs of trouble have broken to the surface. Protests last Friday turned ugly, when police fired tear gas at demonstrators. And the people at yesterday's protest said there would be plenty more demonstrations to come.