About 2,000 Kuwaitis gathered near Kuwait city’s main square to demand the resignation of the prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

The protest on 28 May passed without any violence, as Kuwait’s security services cordoned off the Safar Square area and demonstrators gathered 150 metres away, according to AFP news agency reports.

This is despite warnings from Interior Minister Ahmad al-Humoud al-Sabah on 25 May that security authorities would “not allow any demonstrations or processions outside this square”, in an interview with the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

The prime minister, who has been in office for five years, is accused of breaching the constitution because of his refusal to face parliamentary questioning over alleged squandering of public funds, as well as financial irregularities.

Further protests are planned for Friday 3 June. Pro-government parliamentarians (MPs) and cabinet ministers voted on 17 May to refer the opposition MPs’ request to question the prime minister to the constitutional court. Debates over the questioning have been postponed until May 2012.

During his term in office, Al-Sabah has resigned six times and formed his seventh cabinet just two weeks ago. Parliament was also dissolved three times (MEED 11:5:11).