AMMAN (Reuters) – Protests erupted across many of Jordan’s cities and provincial towns against the government’s coronavirus restrictions, a day after oxygen ran out at a state hospital leading to the deaths of at least six COVID-19 patients, witnesses said on Sunday. King Abdullah visited the hospital in Salt, a city west of the Jordanian capital of Amman, in a move officials said was intended to defuse tensions. Anger with the authorities over worsening living standards, corruption has in the past triggered civil unrest in Jordan. The authorities detained the hospital head and their aides Saturday evening with officials saying another three deaths could be linked to the rupture in oxygen supplies. We want to put on trial those responsible for this and then bring down the government,” said Ahmad Hiyari, a demonstrator near Salt hospital among hundreds of angry residents.

Source: Egypt Independent March 15, 2021 07:52 UTC