Jordan: 10 police officers hurt in clashes with Syrian refugees

Ten police officers were injured, two seriously, in clashes with Syrian refugees at a camp near the Jordan-Syria border on Saturday.

A Jordanian security official said two officers were in serious condition.

Hundreds of Syrian refugees at the Zaatari refugee camp were protesting living conditions and the ban on leaving the camp when a riot broke out after handful of refugees tried to sneak out.

Anmar Hmoud, a government spokesman for the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, says that when police stopped them, other refugees turned up, showering the policemen with stones.

Police say tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.

Zaatari houses some 160,000 Syrians who fled their country due to the brutal violence that has waged for over two years.

Conditions in the overcrowded, wind-swept desert camp have deteriorated since it opened last July, and there have been several previous incidents of rioting.

On Sunday, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said the impact of the war in Syria is threatening the Hashemite Kingdom’s security, adding that Jordan will turn to the UN Security Council for help.

“The Syrian crisis and its impact on Jordan are becoming a threat to national security,” Ensour told parliament in a policy statement, adding that Jordan will present the situation of the Syrian refugees to the Security Council.

Jordan is currently hosting over 500,000 Syrian refugees, with that number expected to double by the end of the year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

“Helping Syria’s neighbors deal with the human fallout of this terrible conflict is crucial for preserving the stability of the entire region. This is not just another refugee crisis – what happens in Syria and in the neighboring countries potentially has much wider, even global, implications,” Guterres told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

AP contributed to this report.