Jordan replaces outgoing PM to quell public tension amid countrywide protests

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Following the resignation of the country’s prime minister, Jordan’s King Abdullah was quick in replacing the outgoing Hani Mulki with a former World Bank economist, Omar al-Razzaz, responsible now with forming a new government.

Mulki’s resignation came on Monday amid countrywide protests that started last week, the largest in years, over planned tax increases.

Expressing their anger at the proposed decision, thousands of people are demonstrating in the streets of the capital Amman and other parts of Jordan.

The protests are unusual for Jordan, a country which has remained relatively stable in a region engulfed in chaos. Jordan is also an ally of the United States who has a peace treaty with Israel.

Mulki had served two years as prime minister before stepping down. He headed a government which was trying to implement economic reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund to tackle the country’s mounting public debt, the Associated Press reports.

Conflicts in neighboring Syria and Iraq left a mark on the kingdom with its economy, in particular, suffering a slump leading to a rise in unemployment rates.

King Abdullah, who has the final say on the country’s policies, appears to have appointed Razzaz, a former education minister in the previous government, to quell public tensions.

Meanwhile, police chief Major General Fadel al-Hamoud said security forces continue to crackdown on protestors who are breaking the law, with 60 arrests made since the demonstrations began.

“Rest assured, Jordan is a safe and secure country, and things are under control,” another Major General, Hussein Hawatmeh, head of the Gendarmerie security department, said in a joint press conference with Hamoud.

The men noted that at least 42 security force members had been injured during the protests, but did not report any civilian casualties.