Jordanian trade unionists beaten and arrested in boycott demonstration

Anti-Israel protest in Amman 
by Abdul Jalil Mustafa in Arab News
6 July 2009

AMMAN: Jordanian police yesterday used force to disperse a group of trade unionists and politicians who tried to stage a sit-in before the Ministry of Agriculture against fruit and vegetable imports from Israel, reports said.

Eleven people were arrested and taken to the Shmeisani police station, in west of Amman, half an hour after they started their protest, the reports said. "Several unionists were beaten in an unprecedented manner," Maisara Malas, head of the Freedoms Committee at the Jordan Engineering Association, told reporters.

"We are surprised to see this happen at a time when the protest was a peaceful one," he said.

"We demand that the government bans imports of fruits and vegetables from the Zionist entity (Israel)," the 14 trade unions which organized the protest said.

Agriculture Minister Said Masri "should be sacked because he did not do anything to stop such imports and to protect national products," they added.

Police spokesman Mohammed Khatib said that the demonstration "was illegal because the organizers did not obtain a permit from the authorities."

Protesters chanted anti-Israeli slogans and carried pictures of Palestinian children killed during Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Original report in Arab News 6 July, 2009