Video of expelling citizen out of Parliament sparks outrage

AMMAN — A video showing Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh addressing a citizen at Parliament, asking him not to intervene went viral on social media, sparking widespread criticism.

The video, which became a social media fodder on Facebook and Twitter, showed the security escorting the citizen out of the Lower House.

The citizen, who was attending Sunday’s session presenting the 2018 state budget, protested the referral of the budget to the House’s Financial Committee. In response, Taraweh addressed him saying : “This is none of your business, citizen.”

Jordanians took to social media to protest the expulsion of the national from the Lower House and the way he was addressed by Tarawneh.

“Nothing is of the business of citizens whose duties are to pay salaries of civil servants and taxes and are the first source of income for the country… Citizens job is to only pay and not to think or make demands,” Hamad (@Aqawaqneh) tweeted on Monday.

Other users asked whose job it was to intervene and express views to the elected lawmakers if not the citizens’.

“If this is not the citizens’ business then whose business is it?” Odai Saaydeh (@Odaisaaydeh) wrote in a tweet on Monday. 

Slamming the way the Jordanian citizen was addressed, he said: “Citizens’ duty is to only work hard and authorities to increase prices.”

For his part, Fakher Daas (@Fakherdaas) said that the scene that occurred at the Lower House sums up the political and parliamentary life in Jordan.

“If it is not the duty of citizens to intervene and ask then whose job is that? The Lower House should apologise for the expulsion of the citizen,” Dehma Hajaya (@Dehma1984) said in a tweet.

“It is not citizens’ right to think, discuss, analyse or protest, citizens are only requested to put their hands together celebrating decisions,” Mohammad Abu Zaid said in a post on Facebook on Monday.

Asaad Abu Amer echoed similar remarks, writing: “By telling that Jordanian citizen that it was not his business to intervene or ask, Taraweh summed up the role of citizens as far as the state budget and what it brings are concerned.”

On Monday, the Lower House Secretariat General issued a statement to clarify the incident, in which it said that the House’s internal regulations allow the public to attend sessions, provided that they remain silent during the Chamber’s sessions.

The secretariat said that the citizen met with Tarawneh prior to the Sunday session and talked to him about a personal matter, where the speaker promised to solve the issue, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, citing the statement.

When MPs started voting on the 2018 draft state budget and budget of government units laws, the citizen started shouting, which required Tarawneh to intervene to maintain order in the House, according to the statement.