A number of trees on the main street of the University of Jordan have been cut down, sparking outrage on social media platforms, on Monday, December 10, 2018.

The university’s administer explained that the cutting down of trees is to widen the road for the Amman’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) denounced the act and posted on facebook that “UJ is damaging a part of its history! We were surprised today that the Jordan's oldest university, whose history is linked to the scientific institution in Jordan, allows the destruction of a part of its history by cutting down its historic trees under the pretext of widening the street for the BRT project, although there are other available alternatives. Unfortunately, there are dozens of trees that are also threatened to be cut."

The following photos show what is left of the trees in the vicinity of the Faculty of Agriculture.

Social media expressed anger against such harmful activities to the environment through tweets and Facebook posts:

There needs to be a committee to preserve the old growth trees at the university, cities across the world build around trees rather than chose the easy way and cut them. https://t.co/t8Yr79Dfci

— Ghassan Khoury (@GhassanKhoury) December 9, 2018