Jordan: Women’s Rights Demonstrators Face Barrage of Criticism · Global Voices
Diana Aqra

On June 25, 2012 more than 200 people created a human chain in the streets of Amman to raise awareness for some of the most controversial women's rights issues in Jordan. They held signs protesting against issues such as harassment, crimes in the name of honor, the “rape-marriage” law, and citizenship discrimination.
The “human chain” of protesters – male and female, old and young – was seen to be a success by many, who felt that an outcry about the discrimination of women in Jordanian society was long overdue. However, the reaction by readers of news websites in the following days reflected how unprepared Jordan was for this type of protest.
A similar protest took place in Cairo some weeks later.
The following video by Loviniseasy was taken at the demonstration (and contains interviews in both English and Arabic):
These are some the slogans on signs held by protesters (translations and all images by Roba Al-Assi from the And Far Away blog, under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0):
What do you care what she’s wearing?
You’re killing us with your honor.
I am as strong as life.
Reactions from those who saw the protest were mixed. Many drivers laughed, heckled, or harassed the demonstrators. “Go home!” was a common call.
Some of those who saw or heard about the protest went online in the following days to discuss how disappointed and ashamed they were. Comments ranged from how they felt that the demonstration was a disgrace to Islam, to how they felt the dress of many of the protesters was unacceptable (as many of the women were unveiled).
Below are some of the comments posted on a story about the protest on Ammon News, a local news website.
Commenter “R” (June 25):
Commenter “مستغرب من هالاعتصام” [Surprised by this protest] (June 26):
Commenter “Roba” (June 26):
Commenter “مساكين” [Poor things] (June 27):
Commenter “أردني غترب” [Jordanian Expatriate] (June 25):