Demonstrators denounce corruption, call for curbs on king's powers

AFP - Around 1,500 Jordanians demonstrated on Wednesday in the northern city of Irbid, demanding reforms and denouncing "government corruption," one of the protesters said.
              
"Trade unionists, representatives of various political parties and women's organisations took part in the demonstration to protest against poverty, oppression and government corruption," the protester added.
              
The demonstrators called for a "trial of the corrupt" and demanded a new electoral law as well as economic reforms.
              
In Amman, a group of young Jordanian university students staged a sit-in outside the royal court and called for King Abdullah II's powers to be curbed.
              
"The king should not rule by appointing prime ministers," Basel Bashabshah, coordinator of the Youth for Change movement, told AFP.
              
"We demand constitutional and political reforms as well as limited powers for the king," Bashabshah said, as he and around 30 students held a "symbolic" sit-in outside the palace in the city centre.
              
He said the students called for parliamentary governments and "true" economic reforms.
              
The group held banners reading: "The people want to form their own government," and "reform starts with the constitution."
              
The demonstrators were echoing demands by the powerful Islamist opposition, which has called for constitutional amendments to curb the king's power in naming heads of government, arguing that the premiership should go to the leader of the majority in parliament.
              
Jordan's constitution, adopted in 1952, gives the king the exclusive prerogative to appoint and dismiss prime ministers.