A man died and 130 people were injured yesterday as pro-reform protesters and government supporters clashed in Amman, prompting police to use water cannons to disperse them.nons to disperse them.

Anti-riot police also broke up a protest camp for students and arrested several of them, a security official said.

“There are more than 100 people injured, including policemen. Two of the injured are in critical condition,” a medical source at the scene said.

An AFP journalist at the scene said police used water cannons to break up clashes between the students protesting to demand reforms and government supporters.

The clashes erupted after around 200 government supporters hurled large stones at more than 2,000 young demonstrators from different movements, including the powerful Islamist opposition, took part to call for reforms to the current regime and more efforts to fight corruption, an AFP journalist reported.

Spots of blood marked the location of the demonstration next to Amman’s Interior Circle, or Gamal Abdel Nasser Square.

On Thursday night, government supporters attacked the young protesters with stones, injuring at least 30 people. The demonstrators had complained that “our gathering is peaceful, but this did not prevent the attacks”.

“Does the King agree with such actions? We are Jordanians and we have the right to express ourselves,” said Reda Darwish, 20.

At nightfall on Thursday, police attempted to disperse the youths, cutting off electricity to the square around 11 p.m. (2100 GMT), an AFP journalist witnessed.

Protesters said around 50 “loyalists” attacked them with rocks after the power supply was lost, adding that police who surrounded the scene did not intervene.