Some demonstrators have been wounded and the security forces have arrested many others. “Kuwait is one of the rare countries in the Gulf where demonstrations happen and are allowed to take place without disruption,” Eric Goldstein, the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch told The Media Line.
“But in the buildup to parliamentary elections at the end of 2012 there have been a number of times where security forces have attacked protestors on the grounds that they were unauthorized.
We’re urging the Kuwaiti authorities to use more restraint in managing demonstrations and to allow people to express themselves peacefully on the street.”
The roiling demonstrations of the Arab spring have mostly bypassed this pro- Western monarchy with just 2.8 million people. It also has an estimated 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Yet demonstrations have heated up over recent changes in the electoral law.
The new law reduced from four to one the number of votes each voter could cast. Opposition groups, including Islamists and liberals opposed the move, saying it violated the constitution. They also boycotted the elections. Human Rights Watch documented several demonstrations at which security forces beat demonstrators near parliament after they tore down a barrier.
The report quotes Mohamed Al-Uraiman, 25, who said he was beaten at a demonstration on October 15. “One (a masked riot police agent) hit my back with a stick and another hit my head,” he told Human Rights Watch. “I was bleeding a lot. Some people tried to rush me out but they did not let us leave.
I had no choice but to walk on the beach and go behind the police barricades and then take an ambulance to the Amiri hospital. I stayed there and got five stitches.”
Security forces justified the use of force saying that the demonstrators had blocked traffic, and thrown stones at police. Human Rights Watch said protest organizers and witnesses said the protests were mostly peaceful.
“These are not demonstrators that are pitched battles with people hurling bottles or Molotov cocktails,” Goldstein said. “They claim the demonstrators blocked traffic but most took place in public squares away from traffic. In some cases the police have arrested people and held them overnight.”
Middle East analysts say the demonstrations in Kuwait could escalate to much larger rallies. “The situation in Kuwait has been ongoing for a number of years but it’s taken a turn for the worse,” Theodore Karasik of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis told The Media Line.
“There’s an ongoing fight regarding the distribution of power between the ruler, the parliament and various groups including the secularists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Salafists.
Recently there have been some large protests of thousands of people which did not happen before.” The large oil reserves have given the Amir extensive financial resources for his citizens.
Education, through college is completely free, including food, books, and even clothes. Health care is also free.
Perhaps for that reason, Kuwait has not seen the large-scale demonstrations found in other countries. But Karasik believes that could be changing. “The potential for escalation is there,” he said. “I think we’re at a stand-off and the question is who is going to blink first.”
