The Jordanian authorities have refused to permit a demonstration which the country’s Islamic groups planned for Friday in reaction to the entry into the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by Israeli troops earlier this week, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) said Wednesday.

The breaking into the al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound on Sunday by Israeli soldiers, reportedly to protect Jewish extremists while performing prayers there, had sparked a series of angry reactions in Jordan and elsewhere in Arab and Islamic countries.

At least 16 Palestinians were injured and dozens were arrested during clashes with Israeli troops inside the shrine’s compound, according to Arab media.

“The Amman Governor Samir Mobaydeen has rejected a request by Islamic leaders to organize the demonstration in downtown Amman after Friday prayers to condemn the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque,” an IAF statement said.

Mobaydeen did not cite any reason for the refusal but said that his decision was based on “the authority accorded to him by the law”, it added.

The Jordanian foreign ministry summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires in Amman and handed him a strongly-worded protest.

Dozens of trade unionists and politicians staged a sit-in before the Trade Unions Complex on Monday calling for rupture of diplomatic ties with Israel and cancelling the peace treaty which the two countries in 1994.

Under the provisions of the pact, Israel acknowledged Jordan’s right to look after the Islamic and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state in the 1967 Middle East war.

- Sapa