Sunday, October 21, 2012

Kuwait Protests Dispersed

I imagine that right now lots of Kuwaitis who didn't think the government there could or would crack down on protests are stunned:
Police in Kuwait used teargas and stun grenades on Sunday to disperse demonstrators as thousands marched in a protest against changes to the electoral law which the opposition has called a constitutional coup by the government, Reuters witnesses said.
Demonstrators had gathered in various parts of the capital, Kuwait City, to march towards the government's headquarters. Riot police surrounded some groups, gave them a few minutes to disperse, and then used teargas and stun grenades against them, witnesses said. Several people were injured.
Protesters later regrouped to form a larger crowd - estimated at more than 20,000 people - which gathered at a road near Kuwait Towers, a seaside landmark in the Gulf Arab state. 
20,000 is a significant crowd, and the government has sacrificed a lot of its legitimacy by gutting previous electoral reforms and now using force against peaceful demonstrators in a country that once had the most open political system in the Gulf.

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