I'm going to leave it Naseem Tarawneh here to provide the full eye-witness account of what took place in Jordan last weekend as hundreds of pro-reform demonstrators came under an orchestrated and sustained attack by regime loyalists during a peaceful sit-in close to the Interior Ministry. Here's an excerpt:
'I am not sure how things spiraled out of control, but from my point of view, having retreated to the neutral area outside the governorate office, I saw two things that contributed to what was about to happen. The first were a series of cars that seemed to be carrying anti-reformists. During the early morning period, these cars were permitted to enter the circle and circle around honking horns and unloading anti-reformists. I use he word “permitted” because all access to the duwar had been cut off by police and the only way these cars (and buses) could get in was either by ramming through the police barricade or being allowed in by the police. This is a very binary conclusion because I really see no other explanation. During that dreadful Friday afternoon, these actions allowed the anti-reformists to grow in numbers. Little did most of the people there know, but there were dozens of cars and buses filled with these people approaching the duwar from the Sports City circle a few kilometers aware.'
All I will add to Naseem's piece is that it says a lot about the insecurity of the Hashemite monarchy that it feels compelled to resort to the crude and inevitably counterproductive strategy of promoting social and ethnic divisions to retain power.
