Broomstick brawl: 23 expats to be deported

The number of expatriates to be deported from Kuwait over the “broomstick” public brawl has risen to 23 following the arrest of more suspects.

On Saturday, Kuwaiti authorities held 19 Egyptian and Syrian expatriates after they were involved in a brawl in the Shuwaikh industrial area.

The fight, filmed by an onlooker and posted on social media, showed people carrying broom sticks attacking one another and screaming, oblivious of the vehicles trying to make their way on the road.

A security source said that the brawl broke out between salesmen in a shop selling plastic material in the industrial area, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Monday.

“The verbal argument escalated into a fight that involved several people,” the source said. “They were all foreigners and no Kuwaiti was involved in the brawl,” the source added.

The interior ministry said the security department in the Capital Governorate was able to arrest those implicated in the fight in a record time.

“All the detainees were referred to the competent authorities to take the legal measures against them,” the ministry said.

Later on the day, four more people were arrested and referred to the authorities overseeing deportation.

“All 23 detainees are being questioned ahead of their deportation,” the security source told Kuwaiti daily Al Rai.

Kuwait has been following a strict policy of zero tolerance towards any foreigners disrupting public order or involved in street fights or in shopping complex brawls.

Last October, seven Gulf nationals were deported following their involvement in a fight at The Avenues shopping mall during Eid. The decision to force the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens to leave Kuwait was based on their violation of the law, disrupting order at the mall, causing terror and panic and assaulting security staff, a Kuwaiti official said.

Citizens from the GCC do not need a visa to enter Kuwait, but the deportees will not be allowed into the country again.