Islamists Accused of Inciting Protests over Al-Salt Incident in Jordan

Jordanian security authorities continued to arrest protesters, who defied the curfew, to express their anger over an incident at a public hospital that claimed the lives of nine Covid-19 patients.
The
security services forcibly dispersed a number of sit-ins, expanding the wave of
arrests to several governorates and regions. Security officials accused the
Teachers’ Movement and the Islamic Action Front - the political arm of the
unlicensed Muslim Brotherhood – of stirring up the protests.
In
a statement issued on Tuesday, the media spokesperson for the Public Security
Directorate announced that security forces have “dealt with a number of groups
breaching defense orders, putting the health of citizens at risk and
contributing to the spread of the epidemic in several locations in the Kingdom.”
While
a large number of protesters complied with the official security warnings and
left the gatherings, the media spokesman noted that others refused, which
“forced the security officers to apply the law with appropriate force to
disperse them… for the sake of the citizens’ health safety.”
The
spokesman said that a number of public security agents were injured while
carrying out their duties and several public and private properties were
subjected to material damage and deliberate sabotage.
The
angry protests erupted earlier this week in different regions of the Kingdom
over an incident at Al-Hussein New Salt Hospital, where nine Covid-19 patients
died on Saturday due to an oxygen shortage.
The incident - the first of its kind in the country – sparked outrage and King Abdullah II immediately pledged to hold accountable those who fail to protect the lives of Jordanians.