More than 5,000 took to the streets across Jordan [2] in "a day of rage" to protest escalating food prices [3] and unemployment Jan. 14—the same day that Tunisia [4]'s president fled after weeks of violent demonstrations. Angry protests are reported from Amman, Irbid, Karak, Salt and Maan, demanding that Prime Minister Samir Rifai step down. "We are protesting the policies of the government—high prices and repeated taxation that made the Jordanian people revolt," former Karak mayor Tawfiq al-Batoush told Reuters at the protest outside Karak's al-Omari mosque. (The Guardian [5], Jan. 15; Reuters [6], Jan. 14)
Tunisia now marks the first time that an Arab leader has been toppled by a popular uprising. In Washington, President Barack Obama [7] hailed the fall of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. "I condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens peacefully voicing their opinion in Tunisia, and I applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people," Obama said in a statement. "The United States stands with the entire international community in bearing witness to this brave and determined struggle for the universal rights that we must all uphold, and we will long remember the images of the Tunisian people seeking to make their voices heard." (AFP [8], Jan. 15)
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