A man was killed and 10 Syrian refugees were arrested when a riot erupted in a desert camp of northern Jordan, a security chief said today.
"Unknown assailants shot and killed a 25-year-old Syrian man during the riots on Saturday" at Zaatari refugee camp, Brigadier General Waddah Hmud said.
"Police did not use weapons against the refugee," Hmud, who heads a department in charge of Syrian refugee affairs, told reporters at the sprawling camp.
Another security official named the dead man as Khalid Nemri.
Witnesses at Zaatari, which houses more than 100,000 refugees, told AFP yesterday that a woman was killed in a clash with Jordanian police.
"Police arrested 10 Syrian rioters for their role in the riots," Hmud said, adding that 29 policemen were also injured.
Jordanian officials said the riot broke out after the detention of a group of refugees who had left the camp "illegally". Three refugees were injured.
"Around 5,000 Syrians took part in the riots. Anti-riot police had to fire tear gas to disperse them," Hmud said.
UN refugee agency the UNHCR said in a statement that "three Syrian refugees were sent to hospital with gunshot wounds and one has since died".
The agency said the trouble began after a Jordanian vehicle was stopped for a routine check while leaving the camp.
Police at the checkpoint "discovered that the driver was attempting to smuggle a Syrian refugee family out of the camp," a UNHCR statement said.
It said the driver and family were detained, but once this became known, relatives and friends of the Syrian family headed for the police post.
"Soon several hundred, possibly thousands refugees were on scene and throwing rocks at the Gendarmes and the situation quickly evolved from a heated demonstration to a violent one."
The UNHCR called on Syrian refugees "to respect Jordanian law".
Since opening two years ago, Zaatari near the border with Syria has been the scene of several protests, mainly over poor living conditions.
Jordan is currently home to more than 500,000 Syrian refugees.
