Jordan senate meets as protests snowball over IMF-backed austerity

Jordan's senate met Sunday for a special session after another night protests across the country against IMF-backed austerity measures including a draft income tax law and price hikes. Some 3,000 people faced down a heavy security presence to gather near the prime minister's office in Amman until the early hours of Sunday morning, waving Jordanian flags and signs reading "we will not kneel".
Protests have gripped the country since Wednesday, when hundreds responding to a call by trade unions, flooded the streets of Amman and other cities to demand the fall of the government. Last month, the government proposed a new income tax law, yet to be approved by parliament, aimed at raising taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 percent.
The measures are the latest in a series of economic reforms since Amman secured a $723-million three-year credit line from the International Monetary Fund in 2016. The senate convened hours after protests ended Sunday to discuss "ways of dealing with draft law... in the interest of all parties", Jordan's official Petra news agency said.
Senate speaker Faisal al-Fayez there was a need for "comprehensive national dialogue" on the law, echoing an earlier call by King Abdullah II. Fayez said the government should "balance economic challenges and pressures with the interests of different social sectors", but cautioned against violence and called on authorities to bring "troublemakers" to justice.
Since January, Jordan - which suffers from high unemployment and has few natural resources - has seen repeated price rises including on staples such as bread, as well as extra taxes on basic goods. The price of fuel has risen on five occasions since the beginning of the year, while electricity bills have shot up 55 percent since February.
The IMF-backed measures have sparked some of the biggest economic protests in five years. Overnight, protesters outside Prime Minister Hani Mulki's office shouted slogans including "the ones raising prices want to burn the country" and "this Jordan is our Jordan, Mulki should leave". Demonstrators tussled with security forces and some fainted, but others smoked water pipes and one sat on the pavement and played the Arabian lute, or oud.