Jordan's Prime Minister Resigns Amid Protests Against Austerity

The biggest protests in years in Jordan brought down the country's prime minister and his cabinet Monday.

After four nights of anti-government protests in Amman and other cities, Jordan's King Abdullah II summoned Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki to the palace, where Mulki tendered his resignation.

Jordan's education minister Omar Razzaz, a Harvard-educated economist, has been appointed the new prime minister and will name a new cabinet. It will be up to him to defuse a crisis over a tax plan — for Jordanians, the last straw in a long list of burdensome austerity measures imposed in the midst of the country's economic crisis.

Late Sunday and early into Monday, several thousand Jordanians took to the streets in Amman and other cities, blocking roads, burning tires and calling on the king to replace the government.