AMMAN, Jordan—Jordan's prime minister announced price hikes for gas and other fuel Tuesday, setting off demonstrations and calls for general strikes.

Protesters blamed Jordan's problems on King Abdullah II, who has the final say in all civic matters. They also demanded the resignation of the prime minister, a top aide of the king.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour's announcement on state TV cited a need to offset $5 billion in state losses from a rising fuel bill.

The news sparked protests in the capital, Amman, and at least 12 other cities across Jordan.


The protesters—affiliated with Muslim, Arab nationalist, Marxist, Communist and youth opposition groups—also targeted Abdullah in a rare public display against the monarch. Criticizing the king in public is forbidden in Jordan and is punishable by up to three years in jail.




Ensour said a type of fuel used in public transport will rise in price by 14 percent, while kerosene oil used for household heating goes up by 28 percent.




Shortly after the prime minister's TV appearance, 100 protesters clashed with riot police a block away from Ensour's home in the northern city of Salt. Protesters pelted stones at policemen as they tried to break their lines to get to Ensour's home to demand his resignation, a police official said. The official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not allowed to make press statements, said riot police responded by firing tear gas. He said there were no immediate reports of injuries among police or protesters.

He declined to say if Ensour and his family were home.




Maan was the site of riots in 1988, which killed four people and wounded scores of others. The riots then unseated the Cabinet and forced a liberalization process that froze martial law and saw parliamentary elections for the first time in two decades.

The protests also spread to Jordan's north. In Sareeh, on the edge of the northern city of Irbid close to the Syrian border, angry protesters burned down a gas station, said witness Mohammed Amoura.