KUWAIT CITY, Dec 19: Kuwaiti riot police fired tear-gas and used water cannons to disperse hundreds of stateless protesters who demonstrated for the second time in four days demanding citizenship.
A number of Kuwaiti activists joined the protesters to press the government to resolve the decades-old problem of more than 100,000 stateless people many of whom are deprived of most basic rights, witnesses said.

“Peaceful, peaceful … freedom, freedom,” shouted the protesters who carried Kuwaiti flags and sang the national anthem as they gathered in Jahra, northwest of the capital Kuwait City.

Riot police chased the demonstrators into the narrow streets of the residential area, the exclusive home of the stateless, locally known as Bedouns, as a police helicopter hovered overhead, witnesses said.
Police arrested at least six protesters, the same sources said.

Riot police used force to disperse a similar protest on Friday, arresting 20 people, who were freed on Sunday without charge.

Ahead of the assault, police cordoned off the area and turned back many journalists and photographers for the first time since February when Bedouns began the protests.

Local Al-Rai newspaper said on its SMS news service that its reporter was beaten up and arrested.
The interior ministry warned on Sunday that it will not allow Bedouns to protest because Kuwaiti law prevents non-Kuwaitis from demonstrating.

Pro-bidoon political and youth groups planned to stage another rally later Monday in Kuwait City, but this did not take place.

The new wave of protests comes after Kuwaiti courts began the trial of 52 Bedouns who were arrested in February and March for participating in similar rallies.

Kuwait launched a crackdown on the Bedouns in 2000, depriving them of health care, education and jobs in a bid to force them to produce their actual nationalities.

The stateless claim they are Kuwaiti citizens who have been denied nationality while the government insists that a large number of them hold nationalities of other countries.

Kuwait, which considers Bedouns illegal residents, has said it is studying the issue of the stateless people and is prepared to grant citizenship to some deserving candidates.

The number of people injured in the demonstration by Bedouns in Taima reached about 15 among whom Dr Fahd Samawi who had difficulty in breathing.

According to sources, 25 people are said to have been arrested as of Monday evening. Four ambulances were on the spot to carry the injured people to hospitals.

The Assistant Undersecretary for General Security Affairs Major General Mahmoud Al-Dosari also sustained injury to his right arm as demonstrators pelted securitymen with stones, who pursued them to various residential blocks in Taima.Al-Dosari was given first aid treatment.

Also, Mohammed Al-Sharhan, a reporter from Al-Jarida daily, sustained a fracture to his arm when Special Security Forces attacked him. Sources explained the demonstration became a police scene when securitymen and Bedoun pursued each other in their bid to calm the situation.

The protest started after Asr prayer when Bedouns rallied at Al-Horriya Square or “Freedom Square,” and security forces interrupted the gathering immediately using water hoses and tear-gas. However, the number of demonstrators continued to rise to around 1,000, sources noted.

Meanwhile, many demonstrators blocked access to vehicles of the Special Forces at the beginning, while others climbed over them, officials of the Interior Ministry tried to negotiate with them to retreat considering their message had already been delivered to the concerned officials.

In the meantime, the former secretary-general of National Alliance Khalid Al-Fadhalah described the scene as a battlefield and not a square for a peaceful demonstration. He said the Special Forces attacked the gatherers who were singing the national anthem and lifting the pictures of HH the Amir demanding for their rights.

On his part, Chairman of Liberal Bloc Ahmad Al-Daeen stressed that the security operation was not necessary because the Bedouns staged a peaceful demonstration, chanting the national anthem and lifting the pictures of HH the Amir under calls to mitigate their sufferings. He added the security solution will complicate the case.

In the same context, Member of the Municipal Council Abdullah Al-Fahad said, “It is a sad day on which our brothers the Bedouns came out peacefully to demand their humanitarian rights.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said it would deal “decisively” with any illegal assembly or demonstration, and would not allow anyone to undermine national security, attack security forces and violate the law.
Many groups of illegal residents joined by activists attacked, in Taima area in Al-Jahra yesterday, police forces causing injuries to the field commander, the ministry said in a statement.

This, it added, forced the security forces to fire sound bullets and disperse the demonstrators with water cannons because they did not listen to calls to calm down.

Any assembly or demonstration should be permitted by the Interior Ministry, in addition to the fact that non-Kuwaitis are banned from taking part in them or they would face an imprisonment of two years maximum or a KD 1,000 fine.