AMMAN: Gunfire killed a senior Jordanian officer and wounded two other policemen in the country’s south, where protesters have taken to the streets for days against rising fuel prices, authorities said on Friday.

Colonel Abdul Razzaq Dalabeh, the deputy police chief of Maan province, was shot in the head on Thursday while officers tried to “calm down riots” in the southern town of Al Husseiniya, the public security directorate said in a statement.

A separate statement said an officer and a non-commissioned officer “were shot while calming down `saboteurs’ who had staged riots”, also in Al Husseiniya.

Several provinces in the south of Jordan have seen strikes during the past few days. Truck drivers were the first to take action, followed by taxi drivers and then merchants, who closed their premises on Wednesday to protest higher fuel costs.

In some areas the demonstrators blocked roads with burning tyres or scuffled with security officers.

Because of incitement to violence and “calls for chaos”, the PSD’s cybercrime unit said it suspended operations of the TikTok social video app inside the kingdom, “after its misuse”.

Fuel prices in Jordan have nearly doubled compared with a year earlier, particularly the diesel used by trucks and buses, and kerosene for heating.

The government has proposed relief measures, including financial aid, for the most-affected families.

Global crude prices are up over the past year, and the economic consequences of Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine increased economic pain for already-struggling people around the Arab world.

Energy costs have led to protests in Jordan before, including in 2018 when prime minister Hani Mulki resigned after several days of rallies against proposed tax reforms and energy price increases.

“Our only demand is reducing fuel prices,” one truck driver, vowing they will remain “steadfast”, told Al Mamlaka state television on Thursday in Maan.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022