Protests near Egyptian Embassy in Jordan

Dozens of left-leaning activists have gathered near the Eygptian Embassy in the Jordanian capital of Amman in support of protests in Egypt, where they are calling for their president Hosni Mubarak to stand down after 30 years in power.

Chanting anti-Mubarak slogans and carrying pictures of the former Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser, the gathering came less than an hour after King Abdullah of Jordan, replaced his prime minister - Samir Rifai - after protests over food prices and poor living conditions.

Former premier, Marouf Bakhit, who has a military background has now been appointed to head the government.

But protesters say they are disappointed by this appointment of a retired general whose latest tenure as PM was marred by allegations of vote rigging.

"With all due respect to the prime minister, the appointed prime minister, I think there are lots of people who have question marks about his early appointment. So what we wanted is as Jordanians to see a government which has fresh faces that is integrating the needs of the people and talking to them." said activist Lamia Rai.

Protests have spread across Jordan in the last few weeks, with demonstrators blaming corruption spawned by free-market reforms for the plight of the country's poor.

Many Jordanians hold successive governments responsible for a prolonged recession and rising public debt that hit a record $15 billion this year in one of the Arab world's smallest economies, heavily dependent on foreign aid.