King Hurries Home to Face Jordan Riots : Hussein Cancels Visit to England as Price Hike Protests Spread

King Hussein today canceled a visit to Britain that was to begin Saturday and headed home from the United States as rioting over price rises spread to northern Jordan.

In the south, the government blocked Muslim prayer meetings to prevent more disturbances there.

Cancellation of Friday prayers is highly unusual in an Islamic country such as Jordan. The Islamic holy book, the Koran, calls on Muslims to participate in the ceremony and most take it as a binding duty.

Residents and security forces said about 500 people hurled stones at police and demolished five police cars this afternoon in the city of Salt, 10 miles northwest of Amman.

Police said the city had been blocked off, as have been the southern towns of Maan, Kerak, Mutah, Mazar and others.

Residents of Maan, 120 miles south of Amman, and nearby cities said soldiers prevented prayer gatherings and ordered people to stay home.

100 Communists Seized

Relatives of Communist Party members said the government arrested as many as 100 party members overnight, apparently in connection with the disturbances, which have killed eight people since Tuesday.

The protests marked the worst violence in Jordan since the army crushed Palestinian guerrillas in 1970-71.

Relatives of the detained communists said that intelligence officers raided the homes of party members in Amman and the northern cities of Irbid, Madaba, Az Zarqa and Fuheis.

Hours earlier, the party had distributed a leaflet calling on the government to rescind price rises that triggered the rioting.

The leaflet also demanded the government scrap an austerity program aimed at dealing with Jordan’s economic problems, which include a $6-billion foreign debt and 20% unemployment.

Government officials, as is common, did not report the arrests.

Rioting apparently spread to northern Jordan for the first time Thursday night.

A security official said protesters in Irbid burned trucks and tires and clashed with police overnight. Irbid is 40 miles north of the capital.

Town Hall Targeted

Mayor Mahmoud al Awneh of Tayyba, another northern town, said 1,000 people protested there Thursday night, breaking windows in the school and town hall.

In Madaba, 20 miles south of Amman, windows were smashed in a bank and municipal building. Residents said 100 people demonstrated Thursday night.

Many rioters have blamed Prime Minister Zaid Rifai for the austerity measures and demanded his ouster.

The measures include a 25% increase in the price of gasoline, to $1.65 per gallon, and increases of 10% to 50% in the price of cigarettes, cooking gas, heating oil and other products. Living standards have fallen sharply over the last year.