1955 Madaba riot (original) (raw)
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The 1955 Madaba riot, sometimes also referred as the Madaba massacre took place in the predominantly Christians Jordanian town of Madaba, when a number of Christians were killed by Islamist rioters.[1]
The riot seems to have begun in a dispute between Christian and Muslim taxi drivers, after which the Salt monastery was attacked by members of the pan-islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, eventually transforming in into an all-out sectarian riot.[1] It is claimed that the event was instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb ut-Tahrir.[1] It was also claimed that a Jordanian Parliament Member, Muhammad Salim Abu al-Ghanam, was behind the eruption of the riot.[1]
Wide-scale anti-Hashemite riots took place the same year in December, lasting for five days. Those came as a result of an attempt to bring Jordan into the Baghdad Pact. The riots were severe – foreign consulates were attacked and many people were killed and wounded throughout the country.[2] The riots were quelled only with the military intervention of the Arab Legion and imposition of a curfew.[3] As a result of the riots, the Majali government fell and the introduction of Jordan into the pact was cancelled.[2]