Thousands of protesters made unprecedented calls on Friday for Jordan's King Abdullah II to go, as police blocked them from heading to the royal palace to vent their anger over big fuel price increases. "Freedom, freedom, down with Abdullah," chanted crowds that AFP estimated at around 10,000 people, including Islamists, leftists and youth activists.
Publicly insulting the king or calling for his overthrow is punishable by imprisonment in Jordan so the demonstrators' slogans were a major departure for a kingdom that had previously been spared protests on the scale of other countries swept up in the Arab Spring.
"The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters shouted angrily outside the Husseini Mosque in the heart of the capital, using the ralling call of the uprisings that swept aside veteran rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen last year. "Abdullah, reform or leave, you have lost legitimacy," they chanted. "God is greater than injustice Abdullah your era is gone."
Organisers said more than 25,000 people took part in the demonstration. Police put the number at 3,000. In the face of the scale of the protests, the king cancelled a visit to London he was due to make next week, the British foreign ministry said. Demonstrators held up banners saying: "Playing with prices means playing with fire," "This is a real revolt against corruption" and "No reform without political and economic change. Long live the revolt of Jordanians."