AMMAN, Nov 25: Tense calm gripped the southern Jordanian town of Maan on Monday as authorities enforced a curfew a day after clashes between residents and security forces left at least one person dead, witnesses said.
Authorities sealed off the radical stronghold, blocking all access roads to it after Sunday’s fighting broke a week of calm following deadly violence earlier this month.
In the morning, a former Maan mayor was briefly detained by security forces for making provocative statements about the situation in Maan to Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera on Sunday.
Mohammad Mohieddin Kreishan, who served twice in the 1980s, was held for a few hours by the authorities who “reprimanded him for provocative statements he made” and then released, sources close to the former mayor said.
The security forces asked Kreishan to contribute “positively” to efforts aimed at solving the crisis in Maan, the sources added.
Police patrolled the streets in the early morning to enforce a curfew.
“They used loudspeakers to inform the population to stay indoors and respect the curfew,” a resident said.
All Maan residents blamed Sunday’s flare-up on security forces, accusing them of reacting violently when youths set off firecrackers in line with a local custom during Ramazan.
“A group of boys played with firecrackers near the city hall, where eight policemen and an armoured vehicle were deployed,” one resident said.
“The policemen tried in vain to make them stop but when they refused to heed the orders, a policeman hit a boy, prompting passers-by to attack him. Fighting broke out and the police began shooting,” the resident said.
Officials, however, gave a different account.
The national Petra news agency reported that a civilian was killed and three people injured, including a policeman, when gunmen opened fire at a police patrol, prompting the police to return fire.
Confusion also surrounded the number of casualties.
A medical source in Maan said a civilian was killed by gunfire and four people were injured, including two civilians who suffered gunshot wounds and two policemen hurt by stones thrown at them.
Late Sunday witnesses said two civilians were killed in the clashes and seven people, including a policeman, were injured while another toll spoke of one dead and eight wounded.—AFP
