Jordanian police shoot one at fuel price protest

Police in the northern city of Irbid claimed Qais Omari had taken part in an armed assault on a police station and was killed in a shootout that left a dozen police injured.

But the man's father said his son had been unarmed.

Protests erupted after Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said on Tuesday that cooking and heating gas prices would go up by 54 per cent.

The government is cutting fuel subsidies to cope with a budget deficit and meet the terms of a £1.3 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

Two policemen were reported as being critically injured and at least 20 government buildings were attacked during Wednesday night's nation-wide protests.

There were reports that 158 people had been arrested by today morning and part of Ibrid's municipal headquarters were set on fire as protests continued through the day.

Security forces fired tear gas at protesters in Jordanian capital Ammam today evening, saying they had attacked several properties and forced a number of shops to close.

There were also reports of police firing tear gas at a small group of protesters in Jabal al-Hussein, a Palestinian refugee camp in the capital.

The Islamic Action Front - political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood - called for protests to continue tomorrow after afternoon prayers.

It called for a "national salvation government" and said January elections should be postponed in favour of a "national agenda for real reform."

Leftist and pan-Arabist parties including the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, Communist Party and Democratic People's Party called on the government to scrap the price rises.

The opposition groups said they would reconsider participating in the elections and urged their supporters to join the protests.