Jordanian journalists stage protest

Tue Mar 8, 2011

Hundreds of Jordanian journalists have staged a daring protest at the government-imposed gag on the country's media outlets.

The rallies held on Monday were attended by employees of major newspapers, news websites, state television and radio, Reuters reported.

"The press needs cleansing," said the protesters. "We want an end to government tutelage and we want to fight corruption,” they cried.

"No to government and security hegemony over the press," read a placard held up by the demonstrators.

"The government's control over media institutions is total and not just in some papers or the state television. We want to raise the ceiling of freedoms," said Sameer Hayari, the publisher of Ammonnews.net, the country's leading news website.

Popular protests have been bubbling up in Jordan since January against what the masses have denounced as Amman's trampling on their rights.

The opposition has warned of a popular uprising similar to the Egyptian revolution, which in February ended the 30-year-long rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

Reports, meanwhile, say Amman has softened up on its crackdown of the anti-government movements to prevent further blows to its reputation.

The protests continue as anti-regime rallies are spreading across Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168763.html.