The horrifying and cowardly attack on peaceful protesters by Bahrain riot police on Friday, June 22 has made headlines all over the world, including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times in the United States.
Now, Al-Wefaq has released a slow-motion version of the YouTube video showing the incident that clarifies many points to the observer:
1. The protest was clearly peaceful in intent and execution.
2. The physical attack by riot police was unprovoked by any action whatsoever on the part of the protesters.
3. The riot police aimed weapons and threw projectiles at the level of the protesters heads, ostensibly with the intention to maim or kill.
4. The riot police shot and threw projectiles at extremely close range to people, which is against the intended crowd-control use of these items, as they can maim and kill when used in this way.
5. The riot police continued to fire and lob volleys of grenades in spite of the fact that the crowd immediately dispersed, even while it was evident injuries were occurring.
6. They did not stop their attack until it was evident to them a person had fallen and was critically injured.
7. Rubber bullets and projectiles hit people in the back, as they were fleeing the attack.
The Bahrain Coordinating Committee calls on the United States and the United Nations to condemn this brutal and senseless attack.
We visited a grave yard in Sitra where martyr Ali Alshaikh is buried next to other martyrs.
Zainab Alkhawaja told us their stories, what happened and how they died.
Ali Alshaikh’s house was filled with his pictures, his mother remembers how active he was and kind to others. It was the third day of Eid in 2011 and he was only 14 when he got shot during a protest close to his Sitra home. He told his family he can’t celebrate Eid while there are political prisoners in Bahrain.
A friend on Twitter provided this video to me, however, I cannot locate the original version on YouTube, and I wanted to share it with you.
It appears to show a traffic stop in a Bahraini neighborhood where people are harassed and threatened by riot police.
Do you know what happened here? When was this, and where? What is the story? Can you solve this mystery?
If you know the original YouTube video, please share the link in the comments!
