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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |||||
Trouble at Jordan desert refugee camp | |||||
2012-08-30 | |||||
Syrian refugees also faced another pressure after Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh said Wednesday that those responsible for violence in a camp near the kingdom's border with Syria border will be deported.
He did not say how many refugees will be expelled, but a security official said there are 150 Syrian refugees in police custody, including an unspecified number of rioters as well as others who want to return home. About 200 refugees went on a rampage late Tuesday at Zaatari Camp, a desert tent city that houses 21,000 refugees, to protest conditions there. Police said 28 officers were wounded in the riot, one of them with a fractured skull. Many of the refugees have said they find the harsh environment in the camp -- set on a parched, treeless stretch of land -- a struggle, citing the constant dust storms, snakes and scorpions.
The rioting followed a similar incident in the camp Saturday night, when 200 refugees threw stones at Jordanian security guards, wounding several. The refugees were protesting conditions at the camp then as well.
On Tuesday, dozens of protesters outside the UN refugee agency in Amman demanded the closure of the Zaatari tent camp due to its harsh desert conditions.
"We have to focus on enhancing the delivery of services and support to the camp," he said. Jordan hosts about 180,000 refugees from the civil war in Syria, the largest number in the region. Nearly 4,600 crossed the border in the past 24 hours, as fighting raged between rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Maaytah said. Jordan is racing to open a second refugee camp to handle the influx. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the United Arab Emirates was helping to fund the camp in the nearby hamlet of Ribaa Sarhan, which is expected to host 20,000 Syrians. | |||||
Posted by:Steve White |
#2 How about the UN turns all of Syria into its refugee camp. Send all the Paleos and any other disaffected Muzzies there and build a big fence. |
Posted by: AlanC 2012-08-30 09:24 |
#1 Probably making sure the conditions are marginal so the refugees don't try to stay like the Palestinians are prone to do. |
Posted by: tipover 2012-08-30 02:40 |