AMMAN — Thousand of activists across the country plan to hit the streets on Friday to mark an uprising that led to the reintroduction of political life over two decades ago.

Independent and youth activists across the governorates said they will hold rallies to mark the so-called 1989 April uprising, a series of protests in the southern region over rising prices and economic restructuring that led to the lifting of martial law and the reintroduction of political life in the Kingdom.

“The April uprising was the political awakening of the Jordanian people, and once again citizens are rising up to demand an end to corruption and for true political reform,” said Muath Btoush of the Karak Popular Movement.

According to the popular movements, protests are slated for Theeban, Salt, Irbid, Karak and Maan.
The epicentre of Friday’s nationwide protests will be Tafileh, some 179 kilometres south of the capital, the hometown of the bulk of 31 activists who were released from detention earlier this week.

“Our return to the streets is proof that the corrupt and anti-reform forces cannot and will not silence us,” Saed Ouran, head of the Free Tafileh Movement and one of the detained activists, told The Jordan Times.

Also on Friday, the Islamist movement is scheduled to hold a rally in the east Amman neighbourhood of Hay Nazzal in solidarity with families of Jordanian prisoners abroad, the Muslim Brotherhood announced in a statement posted on its website.