Emeute à Amman – mai 2010
Several injured in riot in west Amman neighbourhood after man killed by police
jordantimes.com
Family members identified the deceased as Abdul Salam Mthali Neimat.
Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Major Mohammad Khatib said that the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received a tip Tuesday morning that a group of people were storing and using drugs at a house in the area.
In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Khatib said AND inspectors had a warrant signed by the State Security Court’s prosecutor general to search the house. He noted that the investigators showed the owner of the house their IDs and the search warrant, but a group of the man’s relatives attacked them with sharp objects and prevented them from leaving the house.
The PSD spokesman indicated that the ensuing altercation resulted in the injury of three policemen, while “one of the owner’s relatives was taken to a hospital” where he was pronounced dead.
Khatib said Neimat’s relatives set fire to a police kiosk on Mecca Street, one of western Amman’s main thoroughfares, forcing the police to surround the area. A committee was formed to investigate the matter, he added.
Eyewitnesses told The Jordan Times that ambulances, fire trucks and riot police in armoured cars were called to the scene, where around 200 people had gathered. Roads leading to the site were blocked and traffic in the area was snarled, one eyewitness said.
Tear gas canisters were fired to control the crowd, and gunfire was exchanged between police and protesters, witnesses said. One witness said rioters threw stones through the windows of shops in the area, near the intersection of Mecca and Abdullah Ghosheh streets.
The eyewitness also claimed to have seen a man being beaten by police.
“He was beaten brutally. I don’t think he survived,” the witness said.
Meanwhile, a brother of the deceased told The Jordan Times that three men arrived at the house at 9:00am Tuesday posing first “as guests” and were shown in, before they revealed the search warrant. The owner of the house asked them to delay the search until his elder brother arrived, but they turned down the request and started the inspection.
Two brothers came and criticised the AND agents for “showing no respect to the house and its owners” in the way they were behaving. The argument turned into a scuffle and a fistfight. One of the policemen, he said, fired his gun four or five times, hitting the elder brother, whom they described as a tribal leader and a landlord. Another agent, the brother claimed, used a kitchen knife and injured the other two. They were receiving treatment at a hospital and were in fair condition, he said.
The riots started when the elder brother succumbed to his wounds at a hospital yesterday, the relative said.
Members of the tribe said at least six people from the clan were arrested in the riots. The police statement did not mention the number of the detainees.
In an updated statement later Tuesday, Khatib stressed that the anti-narcotics agents showed their identity and stated the reason for their presence from the very beginning, adding that tribesmen tried to prevent them from leaving the house.
The PSD spokesperson said that the security services “will not allow any one to violate the law” and will refer all rioters to the judiciary.
Clashes between protesters, riot police play out on Twitter
CNN.com
May 4th, 2010
The Jordanian Twittersphere was abuzz Tuesday with news of a protest in downtown Amman – local citizen journalists reported street closures, crowds, and rumors of tear gas deployment and even death.
Amateur video posted on YouTube showed a police outpost in flames in the Jordanian capital Amman.
And the clashes between protesters and riot police resulted in the death of one protester and the injury of several others, according to Jordanian media reports.
Public Security Directorate Spokesperson Mohammed Al-Khatib told Ammon News that the flare-up began when security forces with a warrant went to search a man’s home for drugs. According to al-Khatib, when the police entered the home, they were attacked by the occupants and a fight broke out resulting in the death of one man – Abdul Salam Mthari.
Jordanian media, citing security forces, reported that a crowd believed to be made up of Mthari’s relatives then congregated in downtown Amman, attacking police vehicles and burning a police outpost.
CNN attempted to reach local authorities for further information, but the Public Security Directorate Spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
Jordanian authorities appear to be making a concerted attempt to crack down on the local drug trade in the Middle Eastern Kingdom. Ammon News reported on another search for drug trade suspects in rural Jordan today and said security forces there had been significantly increased. And just last month, authorities closed Amman’s famous al-Abdali market, citing concerns about its role in the local drug trade.
anthropologie du présent 
C’est assez special. Je vis a Amman et un ami de la victime m’a donne une autre version des faits. La police aurait tue cet homme devant sa femme et ses enfants ce qui explique que beaucoup de personnes proches de la famille se soient jointes a cette emeute. On ne saura sans doutes jamais la verite. Mais depuis que je suis ici ( moins d’un an) c’est la deuxieme fois que je vois des emeutes. Le systeme de tribues, de clans, de famille est incroyablement puissant et l’honneur est vraiment sacre. En plus ils ont tous des armes! Quand ils fetent le bac ou un mariage, beaucoup d’hommes tirent des coup de revolver!