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contents:
1)Jordanian Students Boiling
2)Savagery against High School Students
3)Three Activists Arrested Yesterday Released
4)More Protests to Come
Jordanian Students Boiling
==========================
Amman, Jordan
March 10, 2002
Today several demonstrations erupted on university campuses across Amman.
Jordan University, Philadelphia University, Applied Sciences University,
Petra University, and other campuses swelled with marches chanting support
for Palestine and the Palestinian people. Across campuses, students wearing
black shirts, T-Shirts, or jackets to commemorate the martyrs of the
Intifada demonstrated under the watchful eyes of undercover police agents.
The marches consisted of AT LEAST several hundred in each case. But if what
happened today at Al Raed Al Arabi High School in Amman is any indication of
things to come, we can only conclude that the campuses are just BEGINNING to
rumble.
Savagery against High School Students:
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Around 10:30 AM this morning, students from Al Raed Al Arabi High School
(Arab Pioneer High School), grades seven till twelve, marched alone
spontaneously in the direction of the Zionist Embassy in Amman to stage a
protest there. It is reported that some of the residents living in the
neighborhood joined in, but that could not be confirmed independently. A few
hundred yards away from the Embassy the young protestors were intercepted by
Anti-riot troops and vehicles. The students who included both boys and
girls were clubbed savagely by the troops. Troops wielding batons, sticks,
water guns attacked without restraint. As a result, the students bled as
they suffered bruises, lacerations, and broken limbs according to several
anonymous participants and witnesses. A young student wearing a cast on his
leg was trying to fight back with his walking stick, but was beaten
repeatedly on his already broken leg and was left motionless on the street
until his buddies came to drag him out. According to his friends, medical
reports indicate that his leg was broken again. Another young student
shouting slogans had his face cut in several places. There were several
eyewitness reports of students bleeding. Eleven students ended up in
emergency rooms according to the latest reports. The students were then
hauled brutally into school buses brought especially for this purpose. In
the end, there were only spots of blood left on the street. It seems the
whole affair lasted for about an hour, which is a record time for a
peaceful, yet an unauthorized, protest given its proximity to the Zionist
Embassy and the young age of the students. Finally, the director of the
school, Tayseer Dweik, was detained and threatened for not stopping the
protest even though HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Later this evening he was
released. But until nightfall one could still see Anti-riot troops and
armored vehicles on the roads leading to the Embassy, possibly to ?protect
it? against the grave threat of seventh grade girls expressing their
solidarity with the Intifada peacefully! It?s just funny how the Arab
regimes which get most sheepish in their dealings with Zionists love to show
off their might on their own citizens..
If you would like to express your protest over the way the students of the
High School were treated, you can send a fax to the Prime Minister of Jordan
at: 962 6 4642520
Three Activists Arrested Yesterday Released:
============================================
The letter-campaign launched on the behalf of Dr. Aida Dabbas, engineer
Khaled Ramadan, and writer Mouwaffaq Mahadin was so successful, thanks to
your participation, IT HAS LED TO THEIR SPEEDY RELEASE WITHOUT THEIR BEING
CHARGED WITH ANYTHING. Mind you, the three were detained yesterday for the
charge of participating in a peaceful protest in support of the Intifada and
Iraq. In fact, it turned out that former Member of Parliament Khalil
Hadadeen was also detained with them. But he was released with them as
well.
Below is a note of appreciation from Aida, Khaled, and Mouwaffaq to all
those who have written letters on their behalf. Before you read it,
remember that PROTESTS ARE EFFECTIVE, and that your protests are what got
them out so soon.
?We would like to express our appreciation and thanks to all those who
contributed or participated in the solidarity campaign with us while we were
detained for the charge of taking part in the peaceful protest that took
place between the First and Second Circle in Amman on Saturday, March 9,
2002. That protest, of course, was in solidarity with the heroic Intifada,
the flood of blood letting on Palestinian soil, and in the defense of Iraq
against the prospective American aggression.
What happened with us has been a lesson to us all, especially regarding our
right to express ourselves freely through all the means guaranteed us under
the constitution. It also illustrates the importance of our solidarity in
the face of any undemocratic practices any one of us is subjected to.
Now we should continue to work together to:
1 - stand up to the aggression being prepared against Iraq, and
2 - defend and stay in solidarity with the Intifada, the uprising of the
Palestinian Arab people standing steadfast on his occupied land.
In Solidarity,
Khaled Ramadan
Aida Dabbas
Mouwaffaq Mahhadin
More Protests to Come:
======================
There are calls for more protests in Amman in the coming few days. This
evening there was one sit-in at the Jordanian Writers Association. The
Jordanian Women?s Union is calling for a sit-in in solidarity with the
Intifada on Tuesday, March 12, 2002, at 4 pm in its offices in al Hussain in
Amman. But the big one is possibly coming on Tuesday, March 12, 2002, at 4
pm at the complex of the Union of Professional Associations. The council
of the presidents of the Unions of Professional Associations has called for
a march on the offices of the Prime Minister to demand that Jordan expels
the Zionist Embassy from Amman, and in solidarity with the Intifada. In the
past, the Unions of Professional Associations have called for such marches
more than once only to back off under government pressure. Hopefully this
won?t happen again, especially that the Jordanian street is sizzling with
wrath over what?s going on in Palestine, and will probably explode in very
unexpected ways if simple peaceful marches are banned as well.
Either way, it's time for the people to go down to the streets to express
solidarity with the Intifada, with or without the approval of their
governments. For Palestine can't wait anymore.
Later
Ibrahim Alloush
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