A large protest turned violent outside a venue that hosted a Halloween party in Abdoun neighbourhood of Amman, capital of Jordan.

Sources told GSN how the crowd was incited by wild allegations that the party was used for ‘satanic rituals’ as well as attended by ‘gays’, and protected by the Jordanian government.

Sources also noted how one of the main political opposition parties, the Muslim Brotherhood, are attempting to create a moral panic about the event in order to garnder political clout in Jordan.

Speaking with the daily The Jordan Times, Lt. Col. Mohammad Khatib, a spokesperson for the police said: ‘Around 200 men who gathered next to the venue started throwing stones in protest against the party and the police forces were called in.’

Crowds assembled near the party venue late Thursday night (1 November), following reports published earlier that day, in pro Islamic Jordanian websites that alleged ‘devil worshippers’ and ‘gays’ were going to attend a party where blood is going to be drank and sucked out of people.

Reports stated that the municipality authorised and ‘protected’ the event which was also attended by ‘important people’.

As the party goers dressed in typical Halloween party costumes as doctors, nurses, witches and the like started to arrive, the media reported that ‘girls dressed as nurses’ were attending the party ‘serve blood’ to the ‘Satan worshipers’.

Speaking with Gay Star News, Mahmoud, one of the party goers said: ‘of course these crazy allegations caused an uproar and curiosity. Crowds gathered and some of the guys were throwing stones and shouting abuse outside.

‘It was just a normal Halloween party which was called “Carnevil – Ministry of Sound”’.

A Jordanian blogger recounted: ‘People went insane. The whole area around the party venue closed down from the amount of guys gathering in an attempt to invade the party and shut it down.

‘Riot police arrived and used batons and armored [sic] shields to dispraise the crowds. It was a mess outside and those who were inside were scared.’

This was confirmed when Khatib reported to The Jordan Times that the protestors were dispersed and no one was arrested or injured.

News of the protest and the imaginative allegations about the party spread through social networking with hundreds of people expressing their anger on electronic forums.

The Jordan Times reported that some accused the government of allowing ‘a party that is against the social values of Jordanians because it included gays and devil worshippers’.

The Muslim Brotherhood party was quick to capitalise on the incident and issued two statements on Friday (2 November) and Saturday (2 November) alleging that event was of ‘Satan worshippers and gays in Abdoun that were granted government support and police protection’.

The group also alleged that the incident ‘confirms the existence of high-level figures in this ritual [practice] that is perverse and strange.

‘Such events are a clear challenge to the Jordanian people’s traditions, values and its Islamic identity and we strongly condemn the government for giving a licence to allow such parties to take place in Jordan’.

‘…Do these promiscuous behaviors befit a country that ascents from the Prophet or does it take into account the suffering of citizens crushed under the weight of poverty, hunger and deprivation or express meaning of responsibility and morality in the country that is suffering from multiple crises in politics and the economy,’ the statement asked rhetorically.

The Muslim Brotherhood called for ‘prosecuting the entity and individuals who allowed such a grotesque party to take place in Jordan and preventing any similar events in the future’.

Mahmoud told GSN: ‘well that’s quite typical, they’ve [Muslim Brotherhood] jumped on the issue because they want political power.

‘They are blaming gays for poverty and alleging the government is helping them and “Satan” worshipers.

‘That’s transparent and rather stupid attempt to suggest some form of corruption and conspiracy and create a moral panic and try to use it as a political weapon’.

Omar Kuddus, a gay Muslim LGBT rights advocate based in the UK told GSN: ‘This is an attempt to sensationalise and use homosexuality as means to get political power.

‘The phenomena to scapegoat everything on homosexuality is common to many fundamentalists.

‘In the USA we heard how Christian and Jewish groups blame gays for hurricane Sandy; the Muslim Brotherhood is just using the same game.

‘A sexual minority which is deliberately misunderstood is easily identified and used as scapegoats when indeed there are social and political problems in Jordan that need addressing.’

Imam Daayiee Abudllah, a US based out gay Imam and member for Muslims for Progressive Values organization stated: ‘as novice politicians, these mullahs will demean by association anything they want to denounce by associating homosexuality as the root cause.

‘Yet, I fail to hear them denounce rape and abuses against women as something that is promoted by the separation of the sexes.’

The Facebook page of My Kali, Jordan’s online gay magazine summed it up: ‘NOW that’s a scary Halloween’.