Four Jordan policemen wounded in clashes with protesters

Four Jordanian police officers were wounded Saturday night when they clashed with supporters of a lawmaker suspended from parliament for railing against chronic power cuts, the security service sys.

“Four policemen were wounded and hospitalized when they intervened… to put an end to riots, the firing of shots into the air and the burning of cars,” says Amer al-Satrawi, the public security service’s spokesman.

They were wounded by stones, but their lives were not in danger, Satrawi says in a statement, adding that the clashes took place in Naour, a suburb in the capital’s south.

Witnesses say the protesters were supporters of lawmaker Oussama al-Ajarma.

Ajarma had demanded a debate on electricity cuts that hit Amman and other districts on May 21, accusing the government of deliberately cutting power to forestall a protest march by Jordanian tribes in support of the Palestinian cause.

But his request was turned down by the speaker and the lawmaker was suspended from parliament on May 27, before he resigned in protest on Wednesday.