photo: naharnet.com
Kuwait - Kuwaiti security forces fired teargas to disperse a banned demonstration on Sunday by about 2 000 opposition supporters against new voting rules for parliamentary elections on December 1.
Opec member and US ally Kuwait has so far avoided the mass pro-democracy unrest that has toppled rulers in four other Arab countries since last year, but tension has mounted this year in a long-running power struggle between parliament and the government which is dominated by the ruling Al-Sabah family.
Next month's elections will be the second in Kuwait this year after an opposition bloc made up of Islamists, liberals and tribal leaders won a majority in polls in February.
That parliament was effectively dissolved by a court ruling in June that reinstated a more pro-government assembly, but the old legislature was unable to meet due to a boycott by lawmakers leading to another dissolution and a call by the emir for snap elections to end the deadlock.
The emir then announced changes to the electoral law last month which some opposition politicians say are an attempt to give pro-government candidates an advantage in the polls.
Opposition leaders have said they will boycott the elections and have called for demonstrations.
Hundreds of police lined the route in central Kuwait City hours before the planned march on Sunday, raising fears of a repeat of clashes last month between police and thousands of demonstrators that ended with at least 30 people hospitalised.
The Information Ministry had cleared its car park on the command of the National Guard, news service al-Rai said in an SMS alert, while a major shopping mall and meeting point along the march route closed early.
Protesters instead gathered on the side of a motorway away from the centre of town, but security forces moved in and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd
“Our duty is to maintain internal security and public order and to deter lawlessness in all of its forms,” Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Hamoud al-Sabah said on state news agency KUNA.
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