Jordanian PM told to resign as riots spread over price of bread

As heavily armed troops occupied southern Jordanian towns which have been the scenes of serious riots at the weekend, the opposition is demanding the resignation of the government and a reversal of the rise in bread prices which provoked the street fighting.

In Karak, where the riots started on Friday, jeeps and armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets of the ancient city, enforcing an indefinite curfew. In the early hours of yesterday morning the rioting spread for the first time to Amman, the Jordanian capital.

The demonstrators are protesting against the doubling of the price of bread under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. They also want the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Abdul-Karim Kabariti who introduced the price rises. In contrast to the last big riots in Jordan in 1989, young men on the streets openly cursed King Hussein, normally considered above criticism, in front of television cameras.

"The sons of the people are not ready to give up their daily bread to allow Kabariti's government to borrow new loans exceeding $1bn to again give it to leading officials to fund their extravagance," said Milhem al-Tal, a nationalist party leader, on behalf of 11 other opposition parties.

The riots are also said by Jordanian economists to be the result of disappointed expectations over the failure of the peace treaty with Israel in 1994 to produce benefits in the shape of foreign aid, investment or jobs. "If King Hussein appeared on television tonight and announced that he was going to freeze the peace deal with Israel, then all the Jordanians would applaud," says Riad al-Khouri, an economic consultant.

Police have so far arrested 120 people in Karak and imposed an indefinite curfew on the city, 55 miles south of Amman. Groups of foreign tourists who were visiting the Crusader castle which towers over Karak were caught up in the rioting. Army helicopters dropped tear gas as five banks were attacked and a Ministry of Education building burned out. The house of the governor of Karak was stoned and a girls' school set on fire.

King Hussein promised on television to deal with rioters with "an iron fist", but demonstrators are dismissive of his claim of foreign involvement. Jordan's powerful Islamic movement says it took no part in the protests, but demands that Mr Kabariti resign. "We are not politicians," a man in Karak said. "All we want is our daily bread." Locals said they would not stop demonstrating until the price of bread was reduced.

The riots are serious for the regime because they occurred in areas considered Jordanian, rather than Palestinian, and which have been traditionally loyal to the Hashemite monarchy since it was established in Jordan in the 1920s. Security forces have also been sent to the northern town of Salt.

During a visit to Karak on Saturday King Hussein told soldiers: "We are standing on a threshold. Either there is a state or there are outlaws and people who want to sabotage this exemplary country." He also said that some rioters were loyal Jordanians.

Mr al-Khouri said: "The people who rioted are the hard core supporters of the regime. They feel they have the right to demonstrate. Palestinians remember what the army did to them [in the civil war] in 1970-71 and would not dream of rioting." Last night the government was reported to be reconsidering its "experiment in democracy" with which King Hussein defused discontent in the wake of the 1989 riots over price increases. He has already dissolved the lower house of parliament.

The 4.2 million population has not seen its per capita income rise for 10 years. Aid from the Arab world was ebbing even before the Gulf war brought it to a halt because King Hussein refused to line up with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait against Iraq. Jordan had to re-absorb many of its workers forced out of Kuwait.

The peace treaty with Israel in 1994 raised hopes that aid would increase. This never happened on the level expected. Inflation, officially put at 3 or 4 per cent, is in reality about 15 per cent. The election in Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu also made it less likely that the peace treaty would produce benefits.