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| Downtown Kuwait City, 6 July 2014 |
Kuwait Times
7 July 2014
LINK HERE
KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad
Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday stressed that all people must follow the law in
order to protect the state’s constitutional institutions against any
violations. He also said that citizens are not allowed to violate the judicial
authority, condemning the attack on the country’s judiciary system....
(Omit)
Five nights of clashes have rocked the
state after the arrest of prominent opposition leader Musallam Al-Barrak. The
public prosecutor on Wednesday detained Barrak for 10 days pending trial on
charges of insulting the judiciary and slandering the head of the supreme
judicial council, Faisal Al-Marshed. Police have used tear gas and stun
grenades against demonstrators, and the Interior Ministry has vowed to deal
firmly with unlicensed gatherings. The ministry said police arrested a number
of protesters, while opposition activists said around 25 people have been
rounded up since Wednesday.
Opposition groups began a protest march
later yesterday to the Palace of Justice in Kuwait City to press for the
release of Barrak, whose trial is due to begin today. Demonstrators refused
repeated appeals by senior police officers not to stage the procession and
started to walk from outside the Grand Mosque, chanting slogans calling for
“cleansing the judiciary”. After walking about 30 m, riot police in armoured
vehicles fired rounds of stun grenades and tear gas at the protesters, who were
holding orange flags.
Most of the demonstrators dispersed into
the nearby markets of downtown Kuwait City where riot police continued to chase
them out of the capital and in order to ensure they do not reach the Palace of
Justice. Police had earlier closed down all roads leading to the Grand Mosque
forcing protesters to park in remote areas and walk a long distance under
sweltering heat coupled with high humidity.
Despite the closure, around 1,000
demonstrators managed to reach the protest area and more people were still
coming in when the police intervened. Most of the protesters returned home with
the exception of dozens of youth activists who continued to play a cat and
mouse game with police.
The opposition earlier held a press
conference in which former Assembly speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun insisted that the
opposition rallies are peaceful and will continue and called on authorities not
to attack them. Meanwhile, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah was interrogated by
the public prosecutor for the second time yesterday night.
The Ministry of Interior yesterday warned
that it would decisively face all unlicensed rallies and marches in line with
legal measures with a view to maintaining national security and stability. The
ministry said in a statement it is committed to constitutional and legal
constants which govern the general order in the country in line with Islamic
sharia and the Kuwaiti people’s ethics. It warned that it would confront all
acts of violence, rioting, burning, ransacking and assault on policemen or
state and private facilities and properties.
Regrettably, such acts are being
committed regardless of appeals and calls for tranquility and reasoning out of
keenness for the country’s national interests, it said.
The ministry urged all people to exercise
proper conduct. It asked parents of young people who took part in such acts to
explain to them the danger of such acts for them and the whole society. The
ministry said in a release earlier in the day that in spite of repeated
warnings, a group of people held illegal rallies in Sabah Al-Nasser yesterday
evening, during which violent acts and rioting took place. The protesters
blocked traffic, burned dumpsters and assaulted security forces and attacked
public and private properties, it lamented.
The demonstrators also threw Molotov
cocktails at the Central Prison, also burning nearby trees before fleeing the
scene, said the statement, adding that police were able to arrest some of those
involved.
Policemen called on demonstrators at to stop their acts of violence
that could pose a danger to families living in the area, but the groups continued
to create chaos and threw rocks at the police, the ministry said. It warned it
will bring all those involved in the violation of law to justice in order to
safeguard Kuwait’s security. – Agencies
More Links on this story:
Telegraph, UK
Jazeera
The National UAE
And This One...
LWDLIK Blog
3 comments:
Its good to see your feels and care for your country, but half of your words isn't true, just try to hear more from the protesters who were there.
TV and oficial journals 75% lies!
I do care about my second home and those were not my words. It was a re-print from the Kuwait Times and I provided links to stories on other news agencies.
If you were there, or have friends who were there, send me the stories and I will post them.
My friends were there last night and I haven't heard from them yet about what happened.
This situation should have been handled in a more cautious manner. It paints a picture in the region that Kuwait is vunerable and this looks appealing to opportunist groups like ISIL who have stressed in the media that they want to enter Kuwait. We all know they have a fan base here. In retrospect, maybe they should have developed this nation on par with other GCC nations, so it appeared that the country cared about their nation, instead of not developing it because someone may try to infiltrate it again.
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