16A
Monday, August 19, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jordan's rising bread prices incites riots
40 are injured; protesters seek leader's removal
[ ]
AMMAN, Jordan — Street protests about the more than doubling of bread prices spread from the interior to Amman yesterday, the third straight day of disturbances that have left 40 people injured.
The Associated Press
Stone-throwing protesters in the capital and several southern towns have called on Prime Minister Abdul-Karim Kabari to step down.
He ordered the price increase as part of economic reforms advocated by the International Monetary Fund.
One-third of Jordan's 3.8 million people live below the poverty line, and many fear a rise in bread prices will result in across-the-board increases for other food.
In Anuman, police patrolled the streets as tight security was imposed in the Jofeh district, where protesters threw rocks and clashed with authorities early yesterday.
Political parties, trade unionists and some members of Parliament joined protesters in calls for Kabarit's resignation.
Parliament member Toujan Faisal said Kabariti made enemies of people and the Parliament because he ignored the pocketbook issues that worry Jordanians.
"The Islamic Action Front demands that popular calls to dismiss Kabariti be heeded," said a statement by the group, which has 16 parliamentary seats, the largest single block in the 80-seat legislature.
King Hussein, who has ruled this small, pro-Western kingdom for 44 years, vowed to counter protests with an iron fist and blamed the trouble on unidentified outside agitators.
Officials said privately that the monarch was referring to neighboring Iraq, Jordan's one-time ally.
nations soured in the past year when King Hussein criticized President Saddam Hussein's government.
King Hussein, who also is supreme commander of the armed forces, delivered a stern address when he appeared on television Saturday wearing a military uniform.
Relations between the two Arab
"The homeland needs you all and needs your vigilance, determination and solidarity to eradicate sedition," he said.
More than 300 people have been arrested since the protests began Friday in the southern towns of Kerak, Tafilia and Maan.
Clashes with police also were reported in the nearby villages of Mo'tah and Rubbah.
In Mouab, a Kerak suburb, witnesses reported that protesters set fire to a school Saturday night.
In a surprise visit to Kerak on Saturday afternoon, Hussein told army officers: "We are standing on a threshold. Either there is a state or there are outlaws and people who want to sabotage this . . . country."
The monarch, who commands widespread popularity, was warmly greeted by Kerak dignitaries who chanted "Long live Hussein and down with Kabari."
The protests in Amman and in the southern cities were reminiscent of riots in 1989 when the price of several consumer items rose sharply as part of an economic reform plan.
"The homeland needs you and all needs your vigilance..."
King Husseln King of Jordan and Supreme commander of Armed Forces
Tokyo police issue warning about art display's genitals
Statue's large, pierced penis seen as offensive and hidden by diaper
The Associated Press
TOKYO — The pierced, oversized genitals of an inflatable male statue are under wraps after police issued a warning that a court would find the artwork pornographic and illegal, a newspaper reported yesterday.
"Boballoon," a 20-foot tall inflatable vinyl rendition of the recently deceased lover of American artist Sheree Rose, has been on display since Aug. 10 at the Seaside Festa '96 Art Plaza exhibit in Tokyo.
It depicts Bob Flanagan with a nose ring, a gag in his mouth, and a black shirt.
And until it was partially covered Saturday, the statue also showed an oversized erect penis pierced with fishing hooks and hypodermic needles, the daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.
The report could not be confirmed late yesterday because exhibit organizers had covered the statue's waist area with a large white sheet, much like a diaper.
The statue was a tribute to the pain Flanagan had overcome before he died. of cystic fibrosis in January, the newspaper said.
The exhibit's organizing committee originally persuaded Rose to display the work with the genitals deflaated. But on Aug. 9, the night before it was to go on display, she insisted on fully inflating it, the *Asahi* reported.
The next day, in a compromise measure, the committee put the statue on display fully inflated, but covered the genitals
while they consulted with Japanese artists about whether police would crack down on the statue.
The statue was completely exposed on Tuesday after experts from the arts community told the organizing committee they didn't think police would object. It remained uncovered until Saturday, a day after police issued their warning, the Asahi reported. quoting police officials.
Rose, who is based in Los Angeles, could not be reached Sunday for comment. She was quoted by Asahi as saying it was unfortunate that officials jumped to the conclusion that the statue was pornographic without fully understanding it.
Student protest in Seoul erupts in campus violence
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Police raided offices of South Korea's largest student group Sunday and vowed to arrest some 1,000 student protesters holed up on the Yonsei University campus.
The students were among about 7,000 people who gathered last week for a rally to promote Korean reunification. Violence erupted on Aug. 12 when students protested the government's ban on the rally, which it said was pro-North Korean.
Students have refused to leave a science building on the campus unless police guarantee their immunity.
Seoul has declared it will shut down the sponsoring student group, Hanchongryon, by punishing leaders and participants to the fullest extent of the law.
Police on Saturday and yesterday raided seven branch offices of Hanchongryon, a
coalition of university student councils.
Some 12,000 police surrounded the campus, but authorities are reluctant to storm the building because it houses flammable and explosive laboratory chemicals.
Police have refused to provide the students with food or medical care.
"Mom, I'm hungry." "We want to go home," read signs hung outside the windows of the squat structure.
More than 1,000 students and police have been injured in the riots.
Some 1,700 students have been detained so far, but most have been released after questioning. Forty-seven have been arrested.
The government accused the group of supporting North Korean policies, including removing 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. South Korea remains staunchly anti-communist after fighting the Korean War in the 1950s.
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