KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: Around 500 Bedouns gathered in front of Sulaibiya Police Station Saturday to demand for their rights, as well as the release of those who were arrested in a demonstration in Taima on Friday.
 Disclosing the gathering was a continuation of the protest action that started in front of Al-Shahbi Mosque in Taima Friday, sources said the protesters called for their civil rights and demanded for the release of those who were arrested earlier.

Sources confirmed a large number of Special Forces were deployed to the area to disperse the protesters and in the process wounded seven of them. Sources added the security officers tried to convince the protesters to disperse on their own yet their calls went unheeded, so they had no option but to use tear gas and smoke bombs. This has prompted the protesters to flee from the scene and some of them took refuge in nearby houses, forcing the residents to run to the streets. The residents then appealed to the security forces to stop using tear gas as some of them, especially the children, had difficulty in breathing. 

The Special Forces occupied the streets that divided Blocks 4, 5, 6 and 7. The protesters, including men and children, carried Kuwaiti flags and pictures of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. They raised placards, in which they wrote their demands, amidst the singing of the national anthem and chants of “Long Live the Amir!”

Throughout the day, a police helicopter was hovering over the place. There was heavy army presence in front of the Sulaibiya Police Station and people were arrested randomly. Security forces chased protesters around two houses, arrested more than 40 and took them in patrol vehicles.

Chaos reigned in the area. Men, women and children became jittery after hearing the sound of tear gas, smoke bomb, Ministry of Interior helicopter and police whistles.

It has been reported the organizers distributed pamphlets and used the Internet to call for the gathering. After receiving information that the Bedouns are planning another demonstration, the ministry deployed security forces to the Executive Committee for the Affairs of Illegal Residents building in Ardiya Industrial Area, as well as the roads leading to the building, as a precautionary measure.

Earlier on Friday in Taima, the security forces cordoned off Blocks Two and Three near the Al-Shabi Mosque, where the protest started. After the evening prayers, several Bedouns gathered peacefully demanding for their rights. Jahra Security Department Director Brigadier Mohammad Tanna advised them to leave to avert a confrontation with the Special Forces because the law prohibits unauthorized gathering but the protesters continued with the demonstration. Sources said security forces stayed near the mosque and asked each worshipper to present their identification cards, resulting in the arrest of 15 people, including the Imam. Afterwards, police, investigators and State Security officers spread all over Taima to keep an eye on the protesters. 

Sources revealed around 110 Bedouns were arrested in Taima and Sulaibiya during the two-day protest. Some of them are currently in the custody of the State Security Department, while others are detained in Taima and Jahra police stations. Investigations have commenced and some of those arrested will be referred to the Public Prosecution for disrupting national security and organizing an illegal protest action. Sources affirmed the hunt for those who threw stones at the security officers will continue, adding that 14 of those who were arrested earlier had been released. Sources said two protesters, who were injured in the Friday protest, are now confined in Jahra Hospital under tight security.

Agencies add
The stateless Arabs, longtime residents of Kuwait known as bedoun from the Arabic “bedoun jinsiyya” (without nationality), were demanding citizenship, free education, free healthcare and jobs, benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals.

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 generous welfare benefits.
Humanitarian

Chairman of the Central System for the Remedy of Status of Illegal Residents (CSRSIR) Saleh Al-Fadhala said Saturday the State of Kuwait has never relinquished her humanitarian responsibility for putting the illegal residents on easy street.

“For a long time the state undertook the mission of providing all humanitarian treatment and services for all residents without exception,” Al-Fadhala said in statements to KUNA.

“The CSRSIR focuses primarily on how to settle the issue of illegal residents through a legal and humanitarian perspective,” he said.

Al-Fadhala’s remarks followed the demonstrations staged by a group of illegal residents in some parts of Kuwait yesterday in pursuit of naturalization.

“The demonstrators claim that they have no access to marriage, birth, death or driving documents, which is not true. No state department fails to give documents to any illegal residents if they meet the necessary requirements,” he affirmed.

The law ensures provision of educational, healthcare and housing services as well as immigration and marriage documentations and driving and residency licenses for illegal residents under Article 17 (of the residency law), he added.

In coordination with the Zakat House, the Kuwaiti government launched a charity fund for students who belong to needy people including the illegal residents, Al-Fadhala said, noting that some 12,000 students benefitted from the fund.

The annual allocations for the fund amount to KD six million.
The government and the Zakat House also co-founded a fund for providing healthcare for needy people including the illegal residents. The medical insurance fees, levied on illegal residents, were brought down from KD 50 to KD 5.

The Ministry of Health in coordination with the Zakat House issued health insurance cards for needy families. More than 39,000 persons benefited from this service between September, 2003, and December 31, 2009, with appropriations amounting to KD 1.127 million, he went on to say.

Dealing with the housing welfare, Al-Fadhala said the state made available 4,866 houses for military and police personnel belonging to this category of residents at token rent rates.

In addition, the military and police personnel who did not get government-funded housing units are entitled to get housing allowance totaling in value KD two million a year.

Under Article 17 , the Ministry of Interior issued passports for 32,727 illegal residents in just one and a half years to help them perform the Hajj and Umrah and get overseas medication.

The number of marriage and divorce documents issued in the last three years for this segment of people amounted to 10,210, Al-Fadhala disclosed.
The Ministry of Health is working with the CSRSIR to issue birth and death documents for the illegal residents, he said noting that the number of such documents issued between 2005 and 2010 topped 3,608 while 12,471 applicants failed to show up at the ministry to receive their documents which are ready.
The Zakat House offers monthly cash aid amounting to KD five million to 10, 923 families including 55,278 persons along with assistances to illegal residents in the form of foodstuffs, clothes and stationery items amounting to KD 618,000 to 3,180 families 22,260 persons, he added.
“We are doing our utmost to solve the problems of the illegal residents once and for all,” Al-Fadhala concluded.

Warned
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry warned against acts that undermine law, after a group of illegal residents threw stones at security personnel on Friday.

A ministry statement said: “A group of illegal residents in the country following Friday prayers, gathered in a demonstration at an open space close to a mosque in the area of Taimaa, while another group gathered in the area of Sulaibiya in the Jahra Governorate, calling for what they deemed were ‘their rights’.” Security personnel dealt with the demonstrators “with dialogue, and the group were told their demands had their channels through specialized committees,” the statement added.

“Despite the continued appeals of security personnel for them (the demonstrators) to end the gathering - due to this being illegal - these individuals did not act out accordingly to the appeals and instructions, continuing to gather until the end of the Al-Aser prayer, and proceeding to throw stones at police forces, leading to the injury of a number of security personnel.

“This called for security forces to deal with them, disperse the gathering and taking required legal action against the instigators.

“The ministry warns against the breaking of laws and refusal to abide by security rules and regulations.. it will not under any condition whatsoever act lightly towards anyone who threatens the safety and security of its citizens - the security of our nation is above all issues” the statement concluded.
Rights

Kuwait Human Rights Society called on the Interior Ministry to release Bedouns who were arrested during the recent demonstration in Jahra governorate.
In a statement, the society said the Council of Ministers and the Parliament must work hard to finalize this humanitarian issue that has been lingering for a long time. It stressed the need to consider the rights of Bedoun, in view of many of them having sacrificed their lives to defend Kuwait and its leaders.
The society added the Central Authority for Resolving the Status of Bedoun doesn’t need the stipulated five-year period to work on the issue and that the authority has necessary information on those qualified for naturalization. The statement warned that delays in resolving the Bedoun issue will only jeopardize social stability in the country.