Rioting has been going on and off for the last couple of days in al Tafayleh neighborhood in eastern Amman. Riots were triggered after the death of a 20-year-old man who was arrested and allegedly tortured by the police after a fight the young man was involved in.

Riots resulted in the injury of some police members by live ammunition fired against them, while cases of tear gas inhalation were reported among rioters.

The way police officials are handling the issue proves that they are trying to cover up for a mistake that they were responsible for, as they asked for a tribal truce, the kind of truce where money is paid for the family of the victim by the ones responsible for the incident in concern. The truce was refused by the victim’s family, and we shall wait and see how this will be handled on a governmental and a societal level, as such an incident will not and should not be overlooked, yet should be properly and maturely handled by all concerned sides, to save lives and make sure justice is carried out.

Whatever happened in jail is just NOT ACCEPTABLE, and whoever was responsible for it should be punished, and the punishment should not be taken lightly; a young man died, and he was killed by someone whose job is to make people feel safe!!! But on the other hand, rioting is just not the answer, shooting and injuring more policemen is not right… we can’t we act by the law to fight crimes instead of fighting crimes with more crimes?

I am not trying to take sides here, and I am just trying to voice out my opinion from a neutral point of view of someone who may not have all the facts, but knows enough to say what is right and what is wrong. The murderer policeman should be punished (SEVERELY), and the rioting should be stopped so that proper action is taken against whoever is responsible for the death of that young man… rioting (in this case) probably won’t bring justice.