Jordan arrests 70 Islamists

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AMMAN, Apr 16 (AFP): Jordanian security forces have arrested 70 Islamists after violent protests in which many people were hurt, most of them policemen. The suspects, members of the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim Salafist movement, were rounded up during raids Friday in the town of Zarqa and nearby Rassifeh, hours after Islamist protesters attacked police, the official said. Initially 120 people were detained but 50 of them were later let go while 70 were quizzed about their involvement in the violence in Zarqa, a northern industrial town, said the official who declined to be named. A member of the Salafist movement meanwhile told AFP that 22 prominent figures of the Islamist group including its chief in Jordan, Abdul Shahatah al-Tahawi, were among those detained. More than 90 people, most of them policemen, were hurt Friday when Islamist Salafist demonstrators armed with swords, daggers and clubs attacked police in Zarqa during protests. "Fifty-one policemen, including senior officers, were stabbed with knives, beaten with bats or hit with sharp tools," Lieutenant General Hussein Majali told a news conference after Friday's violence. He said 32 other policemen were treated for tear gas inhalation while eight civilians were also hurt "when police fired tear gas and tried to stop Islamist Salafist demonstrators from attacking shoppers in Zarqa."