He had 20 opposition activists arrested in early October but quickly released them after an international human rights group criticized the move.

His recent announcements of concessions to protesters' demands to democratize have not quelled discontent.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, in office for just over a month, took to the airwaves Tuesday night to address the protests. He accused Islamists of lying in wait for any opportunity to incite the collapse of a stable government.

Speaking of the Islamic Action Front, he said: "They have been trying to mobilize their people in the streets and prepare themselves for such an eventful day."

He reminded them that they had shown no opposition when Egypt's Islamist president, Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood, had to raise gas prices there.

He then appealed to Jordanians not to "be influenced by these petty attempts."

Ensour has blamed the gas subsidy cuts on budget slashing made necessary by the uprisings in neighboring countries, which have reduced the gasoline supply to Jordan.

"In the past 18 months of the Arab Spring, Jordan has lost between $4 and $5 billion at least as a result of oil stoppage, especially the Egyptian gas supplies," Petra quoted Ensour as saying.

It has put the country's budget deficit through the roof, he said.

In the past two years, King Abdullah has fired four prime ministers. In February 2011, shortly before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office following weeks of intense protest, the king dismissed his government and ordered "genuine political reform," the country's royal court reported.

Political reforms would mean taking power away from his base -- the Bedouin tribes, a group known as the East Bankers.

On top of that concern, the king is also dealing with more than 200,000 Syrian refugees who have entered Jordan recently, fleeing despotism in the neighboring country.