The planned ‘million man march’ on the Israeli Embassy in Jordan fizzled to only about 300 young protesters on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
According to the report, the demonstration was small and peaceful, possibly because the Muslim Brotherhood accounted for only about 100 of the protesters, while others were mostly youths.
The protesters chanted, “We want to get rid of the (Israeli) embassy,” and burned an Israeli flag about a mile (1.5 kilometers) down the hill from the Israeli Embassy.
One protester told AP, “We reject the peace treaty (signed between Jordan and Israel in 1994) and we don’t want an Israeli Embassy in Jordan.”
According to the news agency, police formed several lines and set up metal fences to prevent the protesters from marching toward the embassy. In one incident, a handful of demonstrators pushed one of the fences against policemen, but they were quickly pushed back. Dozens of riot police also stood guard blocks away from the protest and near the embassy.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Jordanian activists were planning a million man march, in which they would demand that the Israeli Embassy in Amman be shut down.
The call to protest was welcomed among many political parties, among them the Coordination Committee of the Jordanian opposition parties, which includes seven parties, and the Islamic Action Front Party which represents the extreme Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.
Israel subsequently decided to evacuate its embassy in Amman, fearing that the protest might escalate to a violent riot such as the one in the Israeli Embassy in Cairo last week.