Bahrain: Police Excessive Use of Force

“I’m not sure what the Ministry of the Interior wants to achieve by its continuous excessive use of force. If this is their idea of instilling love for the country, they failed; if it is their intention to protect public and private property, they failed, their habitual use of tear gas and rubber bullets and other “crowd control” measures probably damage more properties than demonstrators do; if they want to live up to the “security” label in their name, they failed, you do not provide security by adopting terror tactics; if they want to cow people and dissuade them from talking about or participating in political activities, they failed, you do not do that by intimidation in fact the ministry’s action only strengthens the hand of the opposition and increase their sympathisers when they see images like these,” writes ^[1]Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, who posts a picture of a youth beaten up by police in his hospital bed.