Kuwait cancels festival concerts in solidarity with Syria

KUWAIT CITY - Agence France-Presse

A Syrian girl residing in Kuwait takes part in a demonstration with her face and hands painted the Syrian flag near the Syrian embassy in Mishref February 5, 2012. REUTERS photo

Organisers of Kuwait's annual shopping festival, "February Nights," have cancelled all musical concerts in solidarity with the Syrian people, an organiser said on Wednesday.

"The situation is not suitable for staging concerts now since we are in a state of sorrow for what is happening in Syria," the head of the festival's celebrations committee, Abdullah al-Kaud, told Al-Anbaa newspaper.

"The organising committee decided that it was unacceptable to stage musical parties while people are dying daily," Kaud said.

A number of top Kuwaiti and Gulf singers who were due to perform during the month-long festival had already withdrawn. They include Kuwait's Nabeel Shuail and Abdullah Ruwaished and Saudi Arabia's Rabeh Sager.

More than 6,000 Syrians have been killed in a bloody crackdown on demonstrators by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the 11-month-old uprising.

The six nations the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Kuwait is a member, decided on Tuesday to recall their envoys from Damascus and expel Syrian ambassadors from their countries.