Kuwaiti Protesters Demand PM’s Resignation, Storm Parliament

During a debate over efforts to question Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah about corruption allegations, dozens of Kuwaiti protesters stormed parliament and hundreds more demonstrated outside demanding the PM’s resignation. There were also reports that riot police and elite forces had beaten demonstrators marching on the prime minister’s home and outside parliament. Hundreds of people, including opposition MPs, have been protesting outside parliament over alleged corruption. Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah ”stressed respect for the law, and urged no leniency with any infringement on national institutions,” an MP reported.

Opposition parliament members lodged the complaint over claims that government officials illegally transferred money to accounts outside Kuwait, but pro-government MPs won a vote against the request for the questioning. The emir has since ordered the Interior Ministry and the National Guard to “take all measures and preparations needed to confront all that affects the security of the country and the requirements for maintaining public order,” Kuwait’s KUNA news agency said.

Aryn Barker contends that “Kuwait has survived worse political storms in the past…but the protests, combined with a series of strikes that closed down the national airline and threatened to disrupt oil and gas shipments out of the Gulf, underscore the fragility of the region…”