Thousands of protesters marched after former MP and prominent opposition figure Musallam Al-Barrak finished a fiery speech at the rally attended by several thousand people to protest against what the opposition says a plot by the government to change the electoral constituency law to impact election results.
Riot police in full gear used batons to beat up young protesters who tried to break up a police barrier set up to prevent demonstrators from proceeding. At least four protesters were slightly wounded and six others were detained and later released including Abdulaziz Al-Saadoun, the son of former Assembly speaker and opposition leader Ahmad Al-Saadoun.
During the clashes that lasted in less than 15 minutes, some protesters hurled bottles at police, who used batons to prevent demonstrators from moving forward. The clashes were the first between police and Kuwaiti protesters in about a year.
In an unprecedented style, Barrak directed most of his speech to HH the Amir, claiming that his advisors were not conveying the right picture of the situation to him. Barrak warned that if the controversial electoral constituency law was amended, the people of Kuwait will not accept it and will continue to protest until the law is foiled.
“We are not scared of your new batons or the jails you have built,” said Barrak, who added that the people will not allow Kuwait to be governed through autocratic rule.
Barrak said that two draft decrees have been written, the first to reduce the number of votes allowed for each Kuwaiti voters from four to one and the second to cut the votes to two, adding one of the two may be issued.
The former lawmaker also charged that there is a plot against Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He said that the plan being carried out now stipulates to elect a rubber-stamp Assembly in a bid to reappoint former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in the post in a prelude to change the constitution.
Former MP Abdullah Al-Barghash also insisted that the Kuwaiti people are totally opposed to plots being hatched against the constitution. “We have the constitution binding us – pledge to respect it and we will pledge too,” he said.
Barghash said the Kuwaiti people are demanding to have a prime minister that they can hold accountable and is elected by the National Assembly and an elected government. The former MP warned the government against dragging the situation to the point of no return when compromises will not be acceptable.
