Has France’s yellow vest fever reached Jordan?
Six months into the new Jordanian government term, angry protesters take to the streets to demand economic and political reforms.
Along the lines of France’s yellow vest demonstrations, Jordanians took to the streets donning red keffiyehs as part of their weekly rallies near Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz’s office. The demonstrations began Dec. 6 and call for political and economic reforms and pressuring the new government to renege on a tax reform bill and austerity measures backed by the International Monetary Fund.
The weekly protests, which are organized every Thursday, have been held under the slogans Maanash (We are broke) and Mesh Satkin (We will not remain silent).
Protesters chanted “Mulki is gone and now Razzaz is here, but nothing has changed,” in reference to the fact that the new government is similar to the previous ones. They also called on the government to resign.
These same angry protesters led Razzaz, who previously served as minister of education, to the office of the prime minister in June following the protests, which were the largest Jordan had seen in years and which led to the resignation of the country's previous prime minister, Hani al-Mulki.
