Kuwait rejects riots at residency violators’ center

KUWAIT: Kuwait government rebuffed the riots that took place at centers in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Kabd housing expatriates who were in violation of the residency law, spokesman Tareq AlMizrem said Monday. “Expatriates in the two centers staged riots to press their demands for their country’s authorities to be repatriated,” Mizrem told a press conference following the cabinet meeting. The riots were not caused by mistreatment inside the centers nor a shortage in supplies, said Mizrem. “Security authorities were present and restored order inside the centers,” he said. The government, added the spokesman, contacted authorities in the other countries to facilitate their citizens’ repatriation. The Ministry of Interior prepared those special housing centers for more than three weeks ago for the expatriates ahead of their deportation.

The Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait utterly rejected the “deplorable” happenings at centers for residency law breakers late Sunday, but appreciated the way Kuwaiti authorities addressed the matter. The embassy said in a press statement it trusts the wisdom of the Interior Ministry’s personnel, underlining that such behaviors are totally unacceptable. It added that officials of the Egyptian Consulate in Kuwait had been sent to the centers yesterday to meet representatives of the Egyptians kept there, with Kuwaiti officials attending. It made it clear that it had urged those Egyptians to avert making any trouble, reassuring that evacuation flights would commence this week.