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Jordanians protest IMF-backed austerity measures

Doctors, lawyers and teachers staged a strike across Jordan on Wednesday in protest over IMF-backed austerity measures including a proposed income tax law that have sparked a week of angry demonstrations.

Lawyers in black robes were among more than 1,000 protesters who gathered outside the headquarters of the country’s trade union federation in the capital Amman to demand the government drop the reforms.

Some demonstrators waved Jordanian flags or carried placards reading “I’m afraid for my future” while others held up loaves of flatbread with “corruption = hunger” written on them.

After a week of rallies against reforms backed by the International Monetary Fund, there were few signs that public anger was abating, despite Prime Minister Hani Mulki stepping down and King Abdullah II calling for a full review of the proposed tax law.

If passed, the bill would raise taxes on employees by at least five percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 percent. (AFP)

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