http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10126939.html
05/21/2007 10:01 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Bahraini activists yesterday reacted angrily against what they termed ‘excessive use of force by police to disperse a peaceful meeting’ amid speculation that a politician who suffered injuries would sue the interior ministry.
“The strong intervention by the public security forces to disperse a peaceful meeting in Nuwaidrat village and their use of rubber bullets and tear gas could put people’s lives in danger and violate their rights to life,” Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) said in a statement.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10126939.html
05/21/2007 10:01 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Bahraini activists yesterday reacted angrily against what they termed ‘excessive use of force by police to disperse a peaceful meeting’ amid speculation that a politician who suffered injuries would sue the interior ministry.
“The strong intervention by the public security forces to disperse a peaceful meeting in Nuwaidrat village and their use of rubber bullets and tear gas could put people’s lives in danger and violate their rights to life,” Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) said in a statement.
The BHRS also blasted the arson attacks and sabotage acts in Nuwaidrat, allegedly perpetrated by angry crowds, saying that they violated private property rights and threatened people’s lives.
Case dropped
“We really need everybody to calm down, start a dialogue, engage in peaceful activities and broaden freedom of expression and peaceful rallies,” the society said.
The meeting in Nuwaidrat, 15 km south of Manama, was organised to express support for Hassan Mushaima and Abdul Hadi Khawaja, two activists who were due to face court charges on Monday, but the case against them was dropped by King Hamad on Friday following a request from Al Wefaq Society.
However, the organisers kept their initial plans and went ahead with the meeting attended by Al Wefaq deputy Jalal Fairuz, Waad Society leader Ebrahim Shareef and Hassan Mushaima, Eisa Al Jowdar and Ali Rabia, from Haq Movement, the only formation to have boycotted the November elections.
The police said that it broke up the rally after the organisers failed to apply for the permission to hold it.
“The public security forces had issued an order for the participants to disperse, but they did not comply, which led the forces to disperse them within the confines of the law,” the police said.
But for Al Wefaq, the decision to use force to break up the meeting “compounded a tense situation and worsened problems instead of tackling them”, warning that “this behaviour could lead to a dangerous period of escalation.”
Ebrahim Shareef who suffered knee and shoulder injuries as the police stormed the meeting said that he was assessing possibilities to take legal action against the interior ministry.
“I am still looking at the option because I want the move to be effective and to have concrete results, especially that there are pictures proving that the activists and I were on stage in a defensive stance, protected by a group of young people,” he said. “We did not attack the police.”