The demonstration by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and free Bahrainis was held at South Korea’s diplomatic mission in the British capital on Friday, October 18.

Protesters carrying Bahraini flags and photograph of tear gas injuries, condemned South Korea’s export of riot control equipment to Bahrain’s Al Khalifa regime while it faces accusations of human rights violations.

Some demonstrators were wearing gas masks and others held tear gas canisters. They were also carrying banners reading, “Tear gas kills” and “Stop the shipment.”

Earlier this week, Bahrain Watch, an independent human rights group, published a document dating back to July and allegedly showing Bahrain’s Interior Ministry plans to import 1.6 million tear gas canisters and some 90,000 tear gas grenades.

“I think if you look at the scale and frequency of the use of tear gas in Bahrain, it’s unprecedented anywhere in the world,” said Alaa Shehabi, a founding member of Bahrain Watch.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power. The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crackdown.

Physicians for Human Rights say doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

SSM/SS/HE