Seven protest leaders arrested as video clip highlights regime's ruthless grip on power
By Patrick Cockburn
"The unarmed, middle-aged man in the video seems to pose no threat to the Bahraini security forces. He gesticulates at a group of soldiers or policemen, dressed in blue jumpsuits and white helmets, just a few feet away.
One of them gestures as if to wave away a nearby protester filming the incident. Then the civilian is shot.
He sinks to his knees. He stands. He is shot again. And this time he does not get up.
The footage of the incident leaves many questions unanswered. There is no evidence of when it was filmed, or of whether the man was shot with rubber bullets, tear gas or live bullets. The victim's name is unknown. And there is no word whether he lived or died.
But as it spread around the world online yesterday, at the same time as the government arrested seven top opposition leaders and kept injured protesters away from the country's main hospital, it seemed to emblematise the lengths to which the authorities were prepared to go to maintain their grip on power....."
By Patrick Cockburn
"The unarmed, middle-aged man in the video seems to pose no threat to the Bahraini security forces. He gesticulates at a group of soldiers or policemen, dressed in blue jumpsuits and white helmets, just a few feet away.
One of them gestures as if to wave away a nearby protester filming the incident. Then the civilian is shot.
He sinks to his knees. He stands. He is shot again. And this time he does not get up.
The footage of the incident leaves many questions unanswered. There is no evidence of when it was filmed, or of whether the man was shot with rubber bullets, tear gas or live bullets. The victim's name is unknown. And there is no word whether he lived or died.
But as it spread around the world online yesterday, at the same time as the government arrested seven top opposition leaders and kept injured protesters away from the country's main hospital, it seemed to emblematise the lengths to which the authorities were prepared to go to maintain their grip on power....."
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