Price hikes cancelled: Did Jordan just avert mass riots?

The unprecedented popular anger that prevailed in Jordan in the past several days has been reminiscent of the climate seen in early 2011, shortly before the largest popular protests in the history of the kingdom erupted.

Those protests, though a manifestation of decades of accumulating frustration with the government, were triggered by a government hike in the cost of some basic goods and services.

The demands had quickly snowballed into Arab Spring-style calls for new leaders, democracy, freedom and social justice.

Quick facts about Jordan

Unemployment: Official: 11.9% (2014 est.) Unofficial rate is approximately 30% Public debt: 90% of GDP (2014 est.) Budget: Revenues: $8.495 billion Expenditures: $11.06 billion (2014 est.) GDP: $35.88 billion (2014 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP): $12,000 (2014 est.) Population below poverty line: 14.2% (2002 est.) Source: The World Factbook

By 2012, the Jordanian government was able to contain them with a combination of a security crackdown and superficial political reforms, capitalising on the public's fear of chaos akin to the unrest seen at the time in neighbouring countries.

This time, the public's frustration has been triggered by the government's move to raise cooking and heating gas prices, as well as imposing other taxes.

Outraged citizens took to social media to vent their anger at the government, led by Abdallah Ensour.

Meanwhile, activists previously involved in the 2011-2012 protests reportedly started organising again, intending to call for public protests.

Even former officials and pro-government news outlets and television channels launched scathing criticisms against the price rises, possibly in order to appease the popular mood.

Theeban town in Madaba province, south of Amman, has already seen anti-government protests.

Theeban was the site of the first protest in 2011 that triggered nationwide calls for the government to step down.

'Crisis averted'

Everything thus suggests the country was on the verge of mass protests, as calls emerged in Jordan's provinces for a popular backlash against the government's economic policy, largely based on further taxation levied on ordinary citizens.

However, the crisis seems to have been defused, at least for now.

The economic situation is dire for most Jordanians, and economic issues can mobilise them more than anything else - Salaama Daraawi

Perhaps for the first time since he took his post in October 2012, Prime Minister Ensour has backed down and cancelled the move to raise gas prices and taxes on vehicle registration.

This is significant because Ensour has passed dozens of similar price rises in the past without ever being forced to reconsider.

In Jordan, he is even known among opponents as the "Price Hike Hero."

"The prime minister reversed his decision for the first time in his career after everyone moved against him," said Salama Daraawi, an economist.

"The economic situation is dire for most Jordanians, and economic issues can mobilise them more than anything else," he added. He pointed out that the prime minister must have realised that digging in his heels could have led to a social eruption.

Anonymous officials told al-Araby al-Jadeed's Arabic service that the prime minister received "security tips", advising him to cancel the price rises based on a survey of public opinion.

The price of 12.5kg gas cylinders, for example, will now remain at 7 JOD ($9.97) for the duration of the winter.

Activists galvanised

Ensour's about-face is a positive step, said Fouad Qubailat, an activist from Theeban. The U-turn is a sign the people can impose their will on the government when their livelihoods are at stake, he said.

"When we stopped the protests in 2012, it was because we were afraid of chaos, not the government or arrests," he pointed out. "But this government is pushing us back to the street."

When we stopped the protests it was because we were afraid of chaos... But this government is pushing us back to the street - Fouad Qubailat

"The prime minister must understand our pockets are not the solution to economic problems; our pockets are empty," Qubailat added.

Rami, another activist frm Amman, echoed Qubailat. He said the government's unfair policies had galvanised the former protest movement, which he said is again slowly gaining momentum.

"If the government continues price hikes and debt-fuelled policies, it will be alone responsible for the popular explosion that could occur at any moment," Rami said.

Although the prime minister seems to have averted this scenario for now, dozens of MPs have pledged to give the government a vote of no-confidence on the back of recent decisions.

Jordanians each pay an average of 77 different taxes and levies, bringing around 8.5 billion JOD ($11.12 billion) to the treasury each year.

Jordan, a resource-impoverished country hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, has high unemployment, and has been struggling with a decline in tourism and other sectors of the economy since the 2008 financial crisis and following the subsequent regional unrest.

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