Manama: Kuwait on Thursday afternoon released a prominent opposition figure whose arrest had sparked clashes between the police and demonstrators the night before.
Ex-MP and former union leader Musllam Al Barrak was allowed to go home on a KD10,000 bail.
Al Barrak was arrested this week on charges of undermining the status of the Emir in a speech he gave at Al Irada Square in Kuwait City on October 15.
The public prosecution on Wednesday said that he was to spend another ten days in custody pending the investigation, but his lawyers pressed for his release on bail.
Several people and security men were injured in the clashes on Wednesday evening when a rally was busted, but demonstrators broke up into small groups and continued their protest to call for the release of Al Barrak.
The opposition figure has been singularly vociferous in protesting the amendment of the electoral law ahead of the parliamentary elections on December 1. The amendment reduced the number of candidates a voter can elect from four to one, but kept the five constituency system.
Several former lawmakers said that they would boycott the elections and urged the nation not to endorse them. However, 29 people, including one woman, signed up their names on the first day of the 10-day-long registration process to run in the national polls next month.