Thousands of Kuwaitis storm parliament

Protesters storm building after police beat demonstrators calling for assembly’s dissolution amid claims of corruption.

”]Thousands of Kuwaitis have stormed parliamentary buildings after police and elite forces beat protesters. 

The protesters marched earlier on Wednesday to Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s home to demand his resignation, an opposition MP said.

“Now, we have entered the house of the people,” said Mussallam al-Barrak, who led the protest along with several other politicians and youth activists also calling for the dissolution of parliament over alleged corruption.

The demonstrators broke open the parliament’s gates and entered the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and left after a few minutes.

The police had used batons to prevent protesters from marching to the residence of the prime minister, a senior member of the ruling family, after staging a rally outside parliament.

Witnesses said at least five demonstrators were injured and treated on the site.

Some activists said they will continue to camp outside parliament until the prime minister is sacked.

Doctor Fahad al-khanna, a former member of parliament, told Al Jazeera: “We have already been out in the streets protesting peacefully, we will not abandon our country to a bunch of corrupt thieves, we are urgently calling for an early parliamentary election in the country.”

Calls to resign

Tension has been building in Kuwait over the past three months after it was alleged that about 16 MPs in the 50-member parliament received about $350m in bribes.

The opposition has been leading a campaign to oust the premier, whom they accuse of failing to run the wealthy nation and fight corruption, which has become widespread.

Earlier on Wednesday, about 20 opposition opposition boycotted a parliamentary session, a day after the government and its supporters succeeded in rejecting a bid by the opposition to quiz the premier over allegations of corruption.

After the rejection, three opposition MPs filed a fresh request
to question the prime minister over allegations of fraud involving MPs and illegal overseas money transfers.

The premier, 71, has been a target of opposition criticism since he was appointed to the job in February 2006, forcing him to resign six times.

Parliament has also been dissolved three times in the same period.

www.aljazeera.com, 16.11.2011