Formula One's grand prix in Bahrain has backfired before it has even begun
Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 April 2012
"Formula One's grand prix in Bahrain has backfired before it has even begun. If the Bahraini authorities wanted to use the race as a symbol of business as usual after their crackdown on anti-government protesters last year, they are in for a disappointment. The race has become a magnet for protest, a magnifying glass of dissent bubbling away below the surface. "Don't race over our blood," the slogan goes in Manama, but that is what Formula One teams propose to do today.
Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 April 2012
"Formula One's grand prix in Bahrain has backfired before it has even begun. If the Bahraini authorities wanted to use the race as a symbol of business as usual after their crackdown on anti-government protesters last year, they are in for a disappointment. The race has become a magnet for protest, a magnifying glass of dissent bubbling away below the surface. "Don't race over our blood," the slogan goes in Manama, but that is what Formula One teams propose to do today.
John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Met employed by the Bahrain government to advise on police reform, should hang his head in shame for saying that protesters were not being abused by the police, because if they were they would be on YouTube. If Mr Yates had spoken to the Human Rights Watch team gathering evidence of the latest cases of abuse, he would have learned that the beatings have not stopped. They have merely changed venue from police stations, where CCTV has been installed in interrogation rooms, to the parking lot on the way. The beatings in police jeeps can last from two minutes to two hours, and the latest case recorded by HRW took place two days ago. Had he inquired, Mr Yates might have got a similar answer from Amnesty too, who wrote in a report this week that human rights violations continued unabated......"
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