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Karak protesters set fire to building housing Shiites; no injuries reported
by Areej Abuqudairi | May 04, 2013 | 23:26
AMMAN Protesters attacked and set on fire a building housing Bohra Shiites in the Southern Mazar District in Karak on Friday, officials and eyewitnesses said on Saturday.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
"After Friday prayers, protesters stood outside the hotel, which is used by the Bohra Shiites when they come to visit religious sites. Some irresponsible individuals attacked the building and set it on fire," said Karak Governor Ahmad Assaf.
An eyewitness told The Jordan Times that protesters wanted to "express rejection to the growth of the Shiite community" in Karak, 140km south of Amman.
"People worry that the place is becoming a Shiite Husseinieh [religious site for Shiites] rather than a hotel. Protesters claimed this building will encourage more Shiites to come to the country," he said.
But Assaf told The Jordan Times in a phone interview that the building is just "a hotel and as a government we cannot stop people from investing in the country".
Eyewitnesses and officials stated that this demonstration was not related to another pro-reform rally organised by popular movements on the same day.
"This one was held outside the hotel, whereas the popular movements kicked off their march from the Jafar Mosque," an eyewitness said on condition of anonymity.
According to the eyewitness, more than 150 people participated in the demonstration outside the hotel, but the crowd became bigger "when things turned violent" and many people started throwing stones at the building.
"The fire destroyed all the furniture inside," Lt. Ibrahim Kurdi, from the Civil Defence Department, told The Jordan Times.
A "foreign" family of five people was rescued and no one was injured, Kurdi added.
Assaf told The Jordan Times that the family was from India, and its members were "residing in the building to look after it".
But Maj. Amer Saratawi, of the Public Security Department media office, said he had no information on the family, saying they are "just tourists" who were staying "temporarily" in the building.
The Indian embassy in Amman said it has no information about the family or the incident.
"As of now, we have not been officially informed by the local authorities about this, so we cannot say anything," Roshan Lepcha, second secretary at the embassy, told The Jordan Times over the phone.
The shrine of Prophet Mohammad's companion Jaafar Bin Abi Taleb in Southern Mazar is a holy pilgrimage site for Shiites.
http://jordantimes.com/karak-protesters-set-fire-to-building-housing-shiites-no-injuries-reported
