Jordan Charges 26 with 'Terrorism' after Market Unrest

A Jordanian court charged 26 people on Monday with "terrorist acts" following unrest that wounded four people, including two police, when security forces shut a market in central Amman.

They were arrested during clashes Friday evening that flared again on Saturday after stalls at Abdali second-hand clothing market were dismantled, a judicial source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The prosecutor general of the state security court charged 26 people over terrorist acts, using weapons and inflammable materials in contravention of the anti-terrorism law," the source said.

The prosecutor general took the men into custody for 15 days.

"Four people were wounded during the unrest, including two gendarmes," a security source told AFP. The source added that security forces were targeted by "live gunfire and Molotov cocktails".

The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and the country's main opposition group, criticized the decision to close the market because it "did not take into account the hundreds of families whose sole income comes from the market".

Authorities say the market was impeding traffic and needed to be relocated, although stallholders believe such a move would see its size halved.