Teenage boys with overactive hormones running amok for 2 days… maybe if their lives weren’t so empty and repressed the rest of the year they wouldn’t look forward to this “release”.

The funny thing is all it takes is a general announcment from the government that there will be no “parades” allowed. Instead there should be a national patriotic parade with fireworks like the good old days

Nightmare on National Day

Published Date: March 02, 2007

By Eman Goma

I always call up my Kuwaiti friends on Feb 25 to congratulate them on the occasion of National Day. On that day, I also get tens of calls from people telling me not to drive on the Gulf Road if I want to reach my home safe and sound. This has been the tradition and it worked well in the past. But this year, everything went differently.

Driving back home from work in Shuwaikh around 10 pm on Sunday usually takes me no more than 10 minutes. I go to the city through the Sheraton roundabout. The normally quiet ride turned out this Sunday to be anything but. Police had closed all the exits leading to the city or the Sheraton, and were directing traffic towards the highway. “OK,” I thought, “This can’t be too bad, at least this road will not take me to the currently scary Gulf Road.”

I took the exit to the airport in an attempt to take a left and go to Kuwait City. But you can’t imagine the line of cars stopped at the traffic light. They weren’t moving and dozens of Kuwaiti youth were dancing in the street and spraying foam on other cars. I looked anywhere but towards those guys, hoping they wouldn’t notice me.

Then I noticed a teenager, smoking what appeared to be an illegal cigarette in his left hand, approaching my car. He tried to open the passenger door, but luckily I’d already locked it. He seemed to get mad and kicked the right wheel and then started spraying foam on my windshield. Trying to defend my windshield, I started sparkling it with water. But he was too smart for such a move. He pulled up the wipers, leaving me with no choice but to enjoy my windshield turning foamy white and hope that I would be able to see the car in front of me if the cars ever started moving.

Another guy wearing a white dishdasha then ran to my car. I thought, “Oh, my God they are reproducing!” Yet this respectable guy actually came to my rescue and put down the wipers and told his friend to leave me alone. Thanks be to God for such gentlemen! Unfortunately, less than a minute had passed when a new group discovered me. It seems the closer cars got to the traffic light, the closer they got to Kuwait’s hooligans. Now it was not just one guy with one spray can – they were four.
One stuck his face on the window next to me, the other on the passenger’s window and two stared through the windshield.
The nasty guy on my right started licking the window, trying to get me to look his way. He shouted, “I’ll leave you alone if you give me a kiss on the cheek,” and pointed with his filthy finger to his right cheek. I swear I wanted to slap this kid on the face. Instead, I looked the other way trying to calm myself down. But this seemed to enrage the kid and he and two of his friends got up on top of my car and started jumping as if they own this world. The guy then came down, leaving the rest on top of my car resting on the windshield, and he pointed again to his cheek. In my final attempt to scare these teen-hooligans, I dialled 777 on my cell phone and showed it to him, with a very strong belief inside me that they would now run away.

It was his reaction and the long unanswered rings that finally caused me to panic. I started shaking. The guy at my window laughed when he saw 777 on my cell phone and yelled to the others that I was calling 777. He shouted to me “Call them! Call them! I don’t care! Tell them my name is Abdel Aziz.”

It seemed I was doomed, because apparently, 777 operators were also on holiday. I waited in horror for the rest of the hooligans to gang up on me. The worst thoughts ever came to my mind. Then suddenly the car in front of me moved forward. But should I drive home with the three monkeys on top of my car? I had no choice. I hit the gas. Luckily, two of the three fell in front of the car, the third one got down on his own but just stopped in front of me thinking for a split second that I wouldn’t hesitate to accelerate, but I guess he then figured out how serious I was and moved as I sped away. I’ve lived in Kuwait for at least 18 years, and have been to many of the National Day parades. Never have I been in such a threatening situation. What went wrong this year? Were the cops just there to direct the traffic, overlooking such violations and allowing these youngsters to abuse others?

After the frustration, fear, anger and anxiety I felt in these 30 long minutes, I am positive that anywhere else is safer than Kuwait on Feb 25-26, especially when you call 777 for help and the only help you get is a dial tone.
Email me at goma@kuwaittimes.net

The worst thing… some guy right in front of me with wasta was able to speak to the police to take a u turn at Marina, but when I asked RIGHT AFTER HIM, i was turned down – even though I showed him my civil id.

Next year I;m sure there WILL be a riot or a mass molestation or a gang rape incident.

http://new.petitiononline.com/aerosol/petition.html

No society should tolerate such behavior that puts anyone residing in its jurisdiction in jeopardy.

they did thier best atleast. it was still fun though :)

most had chairs set up and a group had a stupid tent with tv in it and shit. the police did absolutely NOTHING except add to the annoyance by blocking left turns and occasionally forcing cars to move so they can pass.