Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Kuwait security forces block parliament protests | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Security forces in Kuwait have blocked hundreds of protesters from staging a rally outside the parliament building as lawmakers held their first session since elections earlier this month.

The confrontation is part of near daily demonstrations by anti-government factions, which boycotted the Dec. 1 election over objections to changes in voting rules imposed by Kuwait’s ruler.

There was no violence Sunday, but protest leaders are vowing to increase pressures until Kuwait’s emir disbands the current parliament and orders new elections under the former voting rules that allowed people to cast multiple ballots. After being driven from outside parliament, demonstrators gathered in front of Kuwait’s supreme court building.

Kuwait’s deepening political crisis is being closely watched by the U.S., which has thousands of soldiers based in the strategic Gulf nation.