Kuwait City ( CNN ) -- Protesters in Kuwait clashed with security forces on Saturday , the second straight day of unrest in the tiny Persian Gulf nation . The demonstration occurred in Sulaibiya , just north of Kuwait City , witnesses and a government official said on Saturday . Hundreds of protesters calling for greater rights for longtime residents who are not citizens of the country demanded the release of people arrested in demonstrations Friday . A spokesman for the Interior Ministry , Col. Adil Al-Hashash , told CNN that the security forces called on protesters to stop demonstrating and to take their grievances through legal channels . The protesters attacked the security forces , who managed to disperse the people and make arrests , he said . The forces used tear gas on the demonstration involving between 200 and 400 protesters . On Friday , more than a thousand protesters clashed with security forces in Al-Jahra province , north of Kuwait City . The crowd -- initially 300 people before quickly growing -- was attacked with water cannons . A government spokesman later claimed that the security forces were trying to protect themselves after the protesters started hurling rocks . Kuwait has been wrestling with the question of rights for noncitizen residents for decades . The U.S. ally , which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia , is believed to have roughly 100,000 residents who are not citizens . Journalist Saad Al-Enzi contributed to this report .
Protests are led by longtime residents who are n't citizens . They're not protesting the government, they protest a system that is corrupt and undemocratic. The Persian Gulf country is a U.S. ally .