Kuwait protesters swell in number, call for PM change

Mangalore Today News Network

Kuwait, March 9 (Reuters): Several hundred Kuwaitis demonstrated on Tuesday evening for a change of the Gulf state’s prime minister and demanded more political freedoms.

 

 

 

Protesters gathered in a car park they named "The Square of Change" in front of a government building and called for Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, to leave.

Demonstrators chanted in Arabic "The people want corruption to go" and "Leave, leave Nasser" as they stood in front of a large banner which read: "A new government, with a new prime minister, with a new approach."

 

 

Just six members of the Kuwaiti youth group Kafi (Enough) were in front of parliament in the early hours of the morning.

"All the people here want to change the prime minister because he hasn’t done anything for the country over the last five years," protester Abu Khalid al-Owaihan said.

"We want a new country with hospitals. There are very few of them and the level of education is very low."

The prime minister, a nephew of the ruler, has already survived two non-cooperation motions in parliament since he was appointed by the emir in 2006. All other key portfolios including defence, interior, foreign affairs and oil are held by the ruling al-Sabah family. The emir has the final say in all political matters. Some of the protest organisers not only want Sheikh Nasser to step down, but seek a replacement from outside the al-Sabah family, which has ruled Kuwait for some 250 years.