Manama: Foreigners who take part in protests or demonstrations in Kuwait will be deported, a local daily reported on Friday.

Quoting interior ministry sources, Al Watan said that foreigners from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Arab, Asian and all other countries should uphold the Kuwaiti laws and avoid getting involved in protests and rallies organised in Kuwait to avoid deportation alongside their families.

"Those who want to join in protests can go to their countries and do whatever they want," the sources that the daily did not name said.

The warning was issued after the security forces held Egyptians living in Kuwait who were getting ready to organise a rally in front of their embassy that would coincide with massive demonstrations in Egypt.

"There will be a zero-tolerance policy and strict measures will be taken against attempts to organize protests. Security forces are watching the surroundings of the Egyptian embassy and the areas where Egyptian nationals live in order to prevent any gatherings," the sources said.

No "suspicious" movements have been so far detected, the sources said.

In April, Kuwait deported several Egyptian supporters of potential presidential contender Mohammad Al Baradei.

According to Kuwaiti media, 21 Kuwait-based Egyptians were flown to Cairo after they sought to hold a meeting to announce the formation of an organization to support Al Baradei, 67, in his bid to become the next president of Egypt.

Shaikh Jaber Al Khalid Al Sabah, Kuwait's interior minister, said that those arrested and deported broke Kuwait's laws on public gathering.

"They are visitors in Kuwait, and we look at them as visitors in Kuwait. When somebody breaks the law, he has to go back to his country," he was quoted as saying.

Article 12 of Kuwait's 1979 law on public gatherings prohibits non-citizens from participating in processions, demonstrations, or public gatherings in Kuwait.

News of the arrest and deportation sparked an intense debate among Kuwaitis and ranged from full endorsement of the government in its action against "non-Kuwaitis who wanted to import their problems and issues into the country" to a call to the authorities to exercise self-restraint and treat the whole issue as "a minor violation that warranted just a warning."

More than 300,000 Egyptian citizens live and work in Kuwait, a country that is home to 2.2 million foreigners and 1.1 million Kuwaitis.