(MENAFN- Arab Times) About two hundred bedouns gathered at the Al-Horriya Square in Taima, Jahra, Tuesday afternoon shouting slogans to demand their civil rights, but they were soon dispersed.
They were rejecting the unfair divisions made by the Central System for Remedying the Status of Illegal Residents in Kuwait. They call these divisions 'discrimination' among members of one group.
Major-General Ibrahim Al-Tarrah, Director of Jahra Security Directorate, while addressing the protesters said their case would be solved soon and told them (the bedoun) there was no need to hold such demonstrations.
He called upon them to stop protesting but his 'pleas' were drowned by shouts from the protesters as stayed their ground following which the securitymen "had no option but to arrest a number of protesters" during which many protesters were injured.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Kuwait Human Rights Society Fayez Al-Sultani lamented the violations committed by the Special Forces which he termed brutal and tragic because the Special Forces dealt violently also with representatives of the Human Rights Society.
He said Taima was reminiscent of Chicago due to heavy handedness by the Special Forces and heavy military presence in the area in spite of the fact that the protest was peaceful and attended by a large community of political activists and representatives from human rights societies.
He added the Special Forces did not differentiate between protesters, media men and representatives of human rights societies while (brutally) attacking them.
He said this violent treatment is a negative aspect and adds a feather in the cap of violations committed by the Interior Ministry.
It was mentioned that journalists and media men were banned from entering the area to cover the protest.
Al-Tarrah told the journalists to display their names clearly to avoid being attacked by the Special Forces.
Activist Mohammed Al-Hajeri called upon the bedoun to protest peacefully and also requested the Interior Ministry to protect the demonstrators.
A number of women representatives from human rights societies were present in addition to the foreign media agencies to cover the event.
Dr Fatma Al-Matar, a human rights activist who was also present, said the security forces threatened to arrest her if she took pictures of the protests.
She stressed the protesters were expressing their demands in a peaceful manner.
Reuters said that the riot police used batons and armoured tracks to disperse the protesters.
"We want this from your highness the Amir, not the government, not the ministers," the mainly young men chanted as helicopters circled overhead.
Masked police dressed in black and wielding long batons charged the group and led away a handful of protesters, gripping them by the back of the neck. "Look at how they treat us, look at this!" shouted an older man, banging a cane on the ground.
Most of the other demonstrators ran into the surrounding residential areas crammed with squat corrugated metal houses lined by dirt roads.
"I came to be here with my stateless brothers," Kuwaiti Nasser al-Nanaphan said, with the country's flag draped over his shoulders. "I am calling for their rights."
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