Kuwait: Stateless Protesters Attacked and Arrested

There are more than 100,000 stateless in Kuwait struggling to have the rights to documents, education, health care, employment, and most importantly naturalization. Back in February and March, hundreds of them took to the streets to demonstrate for those rights, where they faced police brutality and arrests. This month, after the replacement of Kuwait's Prime Minister, following public pressure due to protests, Kuwait's stateless population felt more encouraged to protest again. Last week, there were several small protests in reaction to the trials of protesters. On Friday, the protest led to the arrest of 20 men, later released on Sunday. On Monday, a bigger protest took place in Taimaa, where protesters gathered, in which police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and smoke bombs to disperse them. Later on in the evening, Kuwaitis wanted to protest side by side with the stateless for their rights in front of the parliament, but security forces decided to not let anyone inside the Erada Square, unless they showed a valid civil ID card, which proved they were citizens. Monday also marked the arrest of around 30 men who entered a hunger strike on that same day. I tried to cover the protest through Twitter, translating the observations of activists on the ground, tweeting in Arabic. 

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