AMMAN - Jordanians returning from Egypt said they had to fend off looters with clubs and kitchen knives before heading to Cairo airport to board a Royal Jordanian flight to Amman.
After an almost three-hour delay, scores of Jordanians, including students and tourists, arrived at Queen Alia International Airport on Sunday night to be welcomed by anxious relatives.
"In the area where I live, students gathered in one building and used sticks, knives and anything they could grab to drive away looters," said Hamzeh Abdullah, a Jordanian student.
Another student, Ebrahim Qawasmeh, who travelled from Mansoura to catch the flight to Amman, said the protests have paralysed life in most parts of Egypt.
"We arrived in Cairo today and on our way, there was not a single policeman to be seen," he told The Jordan Times.
"At the airport, no police were present, not even the army. It was a scary situation. We never imagined things would turn out this way," he added.
One passenger said his taxi driver asked him to remain silent in order not to reveal his Jordanian identity.
"We were stopped in one neighbourhood by people carrying butchers' knives, and the driver told us not to say anything," Younis Hussein told The Jordan Times after picking up his luggage at the airport.
He said there were no policemen on the streets and barely any security presence at the airport.
"It was chaos at the airport. We had to carry our own luggage and it was very crowded," Hussein added.
Around 700 Jordanians returned home on Sunday on board RJ, which operated six flights between Amman and Cairo, four scheduled and two extra.
Some 8,000 Jordanians live in Egypt, including university students, families and businesspeople, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mohammad Kayed told The Jordan Times earlier this week.
He said the Jordanian embassy in Cairo is working round-the-clock to assist citizens who seek to travel back to Jordan.
"We call on all Jordanians who need assistance to immediately call the embassy in Cairo," Kayed said, adding that the ministry established an emergency hotline.
As the unrest in Egypt entered its seventh day on Monday, thousands of foreigners packed Cairo's international airport waiting for flights out of the Egyptian capital as countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out, the Associated Press reported.
© Jordan Times 2011
