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Kuwait police break up protest over stateless rights

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:37 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

KUWAIT, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Riot police in Kuwait used water cannon and tear gas on Monday to disperse hundreds of stateless Arabs who, defying an Interior Ministry warning, staged a protest to press the government to grant them citizenship rights, witnesses said.

Witnesses said police charged demonstrators repeatedly and detained a number of people, including one reporter who was covering the protest outside Kuwait city.

The Interior Ministry of the oil-exporting Gulf state said protesters had caused property damage and wounded a police commander, prompting security forces to use force. It vowed in a statement to "deal firmly and with severity with any illegal gatherings or marches organised in the future".

Stateless Arabs, known as Bidoons, often hold small-scale demonstrations in marginalised neighbourhoods near the capital.

On Monday, some leading activists, including former parliament member Mohammed al-Khalifa, and Ibtihal al-Khatib, a university lecturer, joined some 1,000 stateless Arabs at the protest in al-Jahra province, northwest of Kuwait City.

Kuwait has avoided a spillover of the "Arab Spring" pro-democracy revolts thanks to its generous welfare system. But a deadlock between parliament and the government and accusations of graft by the ex-prime minister has stirred some protests.

The number of Kuwaiti Bidoons is estimated at up to 180,000 inside the country and possibly 100,000 outside. The World Bank put Kuwait's population, including foreign workers, at more than 2.7 million in 2010.

Many of Kuwait's stateless are descendants of desert nomads denied citizenship under strict nationality laws in the small Gulf state, whose citizens are entitled to hefty welfare benefits.

Kuwait has the most advanced democratic tradition in the Gulf region, where Western-backed dynasties have given their people little right to political representation. But in February, Kuwait police clashed with hundreds of Bidoons.

Six Kuwaiti political and social groups called for a vigil later on Tuesday to support a solution for the stateless Arabs and urged police to eschew violence against peaceful protests.

"Believing in the just cause of the Bidoon, the signatories call for speeding up the conclusion of a humanitarian and just solution for the cause of the Biddoon without any delay or procrastination," the six civil society groups said in a joint statement sent to Reuters.

Kuwaiti riot police last week beat some protesters and arrested 25 during a similar demonstration by some 200 stateless Arabs. Most have since been freed.

Kuwait, one of the richest countries in the world thanks to its oil wealth, plans to hold a parliamentary election in February, following the resignation in November of the government. (Reporting by Mahmoud Harbi; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)