Islamist group Hizbut-Tahrir said yesterday that the Jordanian authorities had detained eight of its members in recent days, and launched a virulent attack on the regime. Two were arrested on Friday after they tried to organize a demonstration in a Palestinian refugee camp, and another six have been detained since, it said in a statement, without giving a reason for the arrest. It attacked the Jordanian regime over the detentions, reminding it of âwhat happens to partisans of fallen regimes ... (they are) trampled on by people in the street and humiliated.â Meanwhile, three out of four Jordanians fear that criticism of the government would have security repercussions despite the fact that a majority for the first time describe their country as a democracy, an annual survey said yesterday. A total of 77 percent of those polled said âthey could not criticize the government publicly and differ in opinion with it without themselves or their families being subject to security repercussions.â Last yearâs survey by the Center of Strategic Studies of the University of Jordan showed that 80.6 percent feared criticism of the government would trigger repercussions. Likewise, 51 percent of the 1,385 Jordanians polled by the CSS said âJordan is a democracy,â compared to 49 percent last year, while 10.4 percent described it as âauthoritarianâ compared to 12 percent in 2004.