AMMAN, Jordan — The Jordanian security forces’ raid on a restaurant on June 2 in the town of Naour has sparked debate over whether Jordan is an Islamic state or a “civil state” based on the rule of law. The restaurant, Buzz, was raided for serving food to students from the German Jordanian University during the holy month of Ramadan.

Acting on the orders of Jamal al-Fayez, an administrative governor, the security forces arrested the owners of the establishment, located 12 miles south Amman, and kicked the students out, raising the issue of the freedom to eat in public during Ramadan.

Activists came to the restaurant's defense with the hashtag #Ghazwat_Naour (“Invasion of Naour”). It was not the first time that Jordanians have rallied behind the right to eat. In 2014, activists launched a Facebook campaign under the banner “Just like you are entitled to fast, respect my right to live a normal life,” and media figures took to Facebook that same year to start the Secular Movement in Jordan, to demand the “non-criminalization of people who eat in public in Ramadan.”

Some Twitter users accused the security forces of acting like the Islamic State, which punishes people in areas it controls if they are discovered eating in public during Ramadan. Liberal writer Basel Rafayeh sarcastically wrote on his Facebook page, “The Naour invasion will make the headlines in IS' Dabiq magazine. I offer my congratulations to the Jordanian government on this victorious and blessed invasion during the month of Ramadan. Its reward shall be multiplied.”