Jordan Police Arrest 144 as Riots Spread

Violent protests against price increases spread Friday to the town of Salt, just 13 miles from the capital, as King Hussein canceled a visit to Britain today and planned to head directly home from the United States.

Police arrested 14 people in the Amman area and 130 elsewhere around the country, including 70 members of the banned Communist Party, in a crackdown on the unrest that has raged for four days and hit much of southern Jordan.

After noon prayers in Salt, a Jordan Valley town of 100,000, demonstrators burned down two banks, two government buildings and telephone company offices.

Police Pelted With Rocks

Eight cars were burned, but there were no injuries although police were pelted with rocks.

The violence was halted when local dignitaries intervened.

“The demonstrators shouted slogans hailing King Hussein, but like their fellow citizens in south Jordan, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Zaid Rifai,” said one witness contacted by telephone.

Demonstrators blame Rifai for the austerity measures and declining living standards.

Troops banned Muslims from weekly prayers in troubled southern cities in an attempt to prevent more unrest, which has killed eight people.

Hussein Cancels Meeting

In London, the British Foreign Office said King Hussein canceled plans to stop there on his way back to Amman from a visit to the United States.

Hussein had planned to meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but a Foreign Office spokesman said the visit would not have been an official one.

Riots also occurred Thursday night in the northern towns of Madaba and Taiyiba.

The demonstrations came in response to price increases of 10% to 50% on gasoline, cigarettes, heating oil and other commodities.

The increases were imposed Sunday as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to reschedule Jordan’s $6-billion foreign debt. They came on top of rising unemployment and soaring inflation.