Friday, April 13, 2012

VIDEO OF BAHRAIN POLICE ASSISTING LOOTERS

"A new video showing Bahrain police officers assisting in the looting of a supermarket demonstrates the continuing culture of impunity among the country’s security forces despite claims of reform by the government, said activist group Bahrain Watch on Friday.   The video (), posted on the YouTube account of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was recorded on the evening of Tuesday, April 10 by closed-circuit surveillance cameras inside a supermarket in the neigbourhood of Nuwaidrat. The video shows a mob enter, vandalize, and loot the store, which belongs to the “24 Hour Market” chain. Several minutes into the video, uniformed police enter the market and motion to looters to leave before filming the destruction with their own cameras.  Police do not attempt to stop the perpetrators or make any arrests. Furthermore, officers are also seen taking part in the looting and vandalism themselves: one breaks a shop window (5:15), and another walks out of the market with a bottle of water (4:50). Towards the end of the episode, an officer indicates the location of one of the store’s surveillance camera to a looter (6:11), who smashes it as the video ends." (thanks Ali)