Foreign
JORDANIAN demonstrators torched the US flag and pictures of President Donald Trump during a protest Thursday near the American embassy in Amman to denounce his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Hundreds of people took part in the rally in the Abdoun neighbourhood of west Amman chanting slogans hostile to Trump and Israel and waving the Jordanian and Palestinian flags.
Dozens of riot police cars surrounded the fortified embassy compound to keep protesters at bay and policemen deployed in the area, an AFP reporter said.
Demonstrators stood around 50 metres (yards) away and called on Jordanian authorities to close the US embassy and expel the ambassador.
“No American embassy on Jordanian soil,” they chanted, saying the United States is “the source of terrorism” in the world.
They also chanted “Death to Israel”.
Similar protests were held in universities across Jordan, with students denouncing Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem and calling for a boycott of the United States.
At a protest on the main Jordan University campus in Amman, thousands of students demonstrated chanted “down with American hegemony” and “long live Jerusalem”.
The students also called on Jordan, a close ally of the US, to cancel its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has called on demonstrators to rally against Trump’s announcement after the weekly Friday prayers, and other protests are also expected to be held across the kingdom.
The Jordanian government has condemned Trump’s decision, warning that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital amounted to a violation of international law and the UN charter.
Jordan is custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and has stressed that the status of the disputed city must be decided through negotiations. – AFP
– Dec 7, 2017 @ 18:05 GMT |
Tags: America Jordanians torch Trump pictures over Jerusalem move
