News / Persian Gulf / Editor's Choice

Bahrain uses hooligans to suppress dissent, video shows

Tuesday, 17 January 2017 6:32 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 January 2017 7:00 PM ]

These two CCTV camera stills show a store being ransacked in the presence of security forces in Bahrain in April 2012.

A video, which has resurfaced on the Internet, shows hooligans ransacking a store while security forces look on and even film the incident without trying to stop the raid.

The video, which was initially released in April 2012, has gone viral in the wake of the Manama regime’s executions of three anti-regime Shia activists.

People protest against the ruling Al Khalifah regime over the recent execution of three Shia Muslim activists in Bahrain on January 17, 2016.

The video shows some hooligans storming a big supermarket with the support of security forces, while an officer is seen filming the incident and later ordering a thug to break down the CCTV camera.

This as reports say the kingdom has employed 750 mercenaries and hooligans to suppress dissent in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

Last week, Bahrain executed Shia activists - Sami Mushaima, Abbas Jamil Tahir al-Sami’ and Ali Abdulshahid al-Singace - over their alleged role in a bomb attack three years ago.

The poster shows the pictures of Sami Mushaima, Ali al-Singace and Abbas al-Samea (From R). The three Shia activists were executed on January 15, 2017.

The killings came after Bahrain’s Court of Cassation upheld the death penalties given to the three men over allegations of killing a member of Emirati forces, who had been assisting Manama in its suppression of Bahraini protesters, in the village of al-Daih back in March 2014. The defendants had denied the charges.

The executions of the activists have sparked widespread condemnations and public outrage, with Bahraini citizens holding mass protests across the country.

Rallies denounce Bahraini executions

Meanwhile, fresh demonstrations were reported on Tuesday in the villages and areas of Bilad al-Qadim, Diraz, Musalla, Sitra, al-Daih, Ma'ameer, Karzakan, Sar, Markh, Sanabis, Malikiyah and Jidd Hafs.

The protesters called for the prosecution of those who killed the three Shia activists.

Anti-regime protesters have taken to the streets on an almost daily basis ever since the popular uprising began in Bahrain in February 2011.

The demonstrators are demanding that the Al Khalifah family relinquish power and let a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded or detained amid Manama’s crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination against the country’s Shia majority.

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