THE army imposed a curfew on riot stricken Karak yesterday but Jordanian opposition parties said their followers would never bow to King Hussein's "iron fist" approach to protests against higher bread prices.
Security forces arrested 120 people, operating under an indefinite curfew that took effect at 10 a.m. but was lifted periodically to allow local movement, Karak residents said.
Calm returned to the teeming centre of the capital, Amman, where clashes between demonstrators and riot police broke out overnight in a poor district, the first outside the south of Jordan since riots flared on Friday.
But the Prime Minister, Mr Abdul-Karim al-Kabariti, whose government is the focus of the protests, and the vocal Muslim led opposition appeared at a political impasse.
It was the worst violence in Jordan since riots in 1989. They were also triggered by government price rises and led to a change of prime minister and the start of democratic reforms.
A coalition of 11 parties demanded removal of the government appointed by the king in January and said followers would never accept the "iron fist" policy threatened by King Hussein to quell unrest.
"We blame the government for what happened," they said in a statement read at a press conference. "And we demand the dismissal of the government, whose presence and decisions are antagonising citizens."
Riots flared in Karak and spread to nearby towns on Friday, three days after the government drastically raised bread prices under IMF agreed economic reforms.
But the government, backed by the king, dug in its heels. One official said "We are convinced of the move we took after a broad dialogue and would not go back on it."
The curfew imposed on Karak was apparently intended to prevent new riots after main noon prayers. The demonstrations against the doubling of bread prices last Tuesday had followed Friday prayers.
Army officers said all gatherings were banned and those who violate orders would be held accountable.
King Hussein had visited troops at the hilltop town late on Saturday and told them Jordan faced a choice of order or anarchy. He had already dissolved the lower house of parliament, where the price rise had found support among only 29 of the 80 deputies.