Jordan protesters call for King Abdullah’s removal as demonstrations escalate
Jordanian policemen stand guard during a demonstration in Amman following an announcement that Jordan would raise fuel prices, including a 53 percent hike on cooking gas, on November 13, 2012.
In Jordan, thousands returned to the streets Friday, as they have since Tuesday, to protest fuel price hikes, as calls intensified for the ouster of King Abdullah II.
Al Jazeera reported about 2,000 people gathered in the capitol of Amman, with protests spreading through the kingdom.
"But what's different about this protest and the protests that were held last night is that people are now starting to call for the downfall of King Abdullah," said Al Jazeera's correspondent Nicole Johnston. "We haven't heard this in demonstrations before. This is quite unusual."
The protesters chanted "The people want the downfall of the regime" and other slogans referring back to the Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt and Libya, Al Jazeera explained.
ABC News wrote the crowds were the largest to date calling for the end of the monarch.
So far, one person has been killed and 75 wounded in demonstrations over fuel and gas increases, in a country now plagued by high unemployment and inflation, ABC News explained.
According to Agence France-Presse, the kingdom imports 95 percent of its energy and is having trouble finding gas supplies in the wake of Egypt's diminished supply.
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