Thousands of Kuwaitis stormed their country’s parliament today, calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Nasser al-Sabah:
“Thousands of Kuwaitis have stormed parliamentary buildings after police and elite forces beat protesters.
“The protesters marched earlier on Wednesday to Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s home to demand his resignation, an opposition MP said…
“The demonstrators broke open the parliament’s gates and entered the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and left after a few minutes.
“The police had used batons to prevent protesters from marching to the residence of the prime minister, a senior member of the ruling family, after staging a rally outside parliament…
“Some activists said they will continue to camp outside parliament until the prime minister is sacked.”
Kuwaitis have been protesting since March over a corruption scandal which has already led to the resignation of the foreign minister. Kuwaitis are not new to protests, having staged a successful 2006 “Orange Revolution” for election reform. The current prime minister’s saga shows the edges of Kuwaiti democracy, in that parliament has been inhibited from supervising him as a member of the royal family. The current political crisis has been accompanied by a wave of public sector strikes, but I haven’t been able to tell if the two are related.
(Crossposted to my blog)
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