(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Jordan has a humanitarian obligation to Syrian refugees and cannot turn its back on them or close its borders to newcomers, Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu'bi said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Lower House about an incident at the Zaatari Refugee Camp on Tuesday, Zu'bi said 200 Syrian refugees had participated in a protest against what they said were poor services in their camp, particularly a shortage of facilities, and demanded that the authorities let them return to their country.
The protest then descended into violence when refugees started to throw stones at officials from the camp administration and police forces, he added.
According to Zu'bi, 20 police and Gendarmerie officers were injured in the riots, but none seriously.
The Public Security Department said in a statement on Tuesday that 26 officers had been injured and that one was in critical condition.
The authorities cannot prevent Syrian refugees from going back to their country if they choose to do so, the minister said, but also cannot put them at risk of death.
Zu'bi also repeated a recent official statement that the number of refugees in Jordan was close to exhausting the country's capacity to take care of them.
Lower House Speaker Abdul Karim Dughmi closed the debate over this topic by saying: "I will ask the government to hold a special meeting to discuss the Syrian refugee issue later, as it is not part of the agenda for this session."
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