AMMAN (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Jordanian security forces on Friday prevented a public demonstration from taking place near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Jordan Valley, close to the border with occupied Palestine, in protest against Israel’s ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after the Friday prayer, security forces forcibly dispersed the protest in front of Abu Aisha Mosque and arrested several participants, including Ahmad Barakat, a member of the Executive Bureau of the Islamic Action Front Party (Jordan’s main opposition party), Mustafa Al-Saqar from the Islamic Movement’s Executive Bureau (Muslim Brotherhood), and youth activists Osama Al-Hardan, Issa Al-Jitaawi, among others.
An eyewitness told Quds Press that the National Forum to Support the Resistance and Defend the Homeland (a coalition of political and trade union forces) had called for the demonstration to be held on April 11 in the Jordan Valley at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, near the Jordanian-Palestinian border. However, all roads leading to the demonstration site were blocked by security checkpoints.
According to the witness, when organizers were blocked from reaching the original location, they designated Sahaba Mosque as a new meeting point. After it too became inaccessible, protesters gathered at Abu Aisha Mosque, west of Amman. When the crowd exited Friday prayer, the demonstration was forcibly broken up and arrests were made.
Since Thursday evening, Jordanian authorities have set up dozens of checkpoints along all roads leading to the Jordan Valley from various governorates, surrounding the Sahaba Mosque and other key areas.
Hassan Al-Riyati, a Member of Parliament from the Islamic Action Front, criticized the crackdown: “At a time when Jordan needs to strengthen internal unity to confront Israeli aggression and expansionist plans, we are witnessing a surprising official response—arresting people for simply supporting Gaza.”
He added: “It’s painful to see judicial cases brought against citizens for ‘disturbing relations with a friendly state’—referring to the Zionist occupation, which is the eternal enemy of the Muslim nation.”
Abdel Qader Al-Khatib, a lawyer with the Islamic Action Front’s Freedoms Committee, also denounced the crackdown of the protest: “This was a peaceful demonstration in support of the official Jordanian position rejecting the Judaization of the West Bank, changes to the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the aggression against Gaza.”
He called on the Jordanian government to immediately release the detainees, urging authorities to direct their security focus toward confronting the Israeli occupation, not peaceful demonstrators.
The demonstration was one of several called for by Jordanian popular forces, including the National Forum for Supporting the Resistance, the Islamic Movement, the Popular Unity Party (a leftist nationalist party), and others, many of which have recently faced official bans.
The protest comes as Israel resumed its military onslaught on Gaza over four weeks ago, following a two-month truce, committing further massacres and tightening the siege on the already devastated Strip—prompting fresh waves of popular outrage across Jordan.
