No teargas for Bahraini dictatorship, Korean trade unions say

This video is called Bahraini security forces raid a high school in Manama, firing teargas at the students. It says about itself:

Bahraini security forces have raided a high school in the capital Manama, firing teargas at the students angry over the recent arrest of a fellow student.

Regime forces clashed with students protesting outside their school, located close to the US embassy in southern Manama, on Tuesday.

The students were angry over the arrest of 17-year-old student Hassan Humidan at the school on Monday.

Bahrainis have been staging peaceful anti-regime demonstrations since mid-February 2011 despite the ruling Al Khalifa regime’s heavy-handed crackdown.

From the MENA Solidarity Network:

Bahrain: Korean unions condemn tear gas shipment

Posted on October 18, 2013

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) demanded that the Korean government refuse to grant an export license for a huge shipment of tear gas to Bahrain. Campaigners from BahrainWatch have exposed how the Bahrain authorities are seeking to replenish their supplies of tear gas after the massive wave of repression this summer against opposition groups calling for democratic reforms.

The KCTU wrote to the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration, which oversees the defence industry and the National Police Agency, saying:

“Recently, Bahraini government had indiscriminately fired large amounts of tear gas [which] resulted in hundreds of casualties. According to ‘Bahrain Watch’, most of the tear gas used by Bahraini police [is] made [in] Korea. Already 1.5 million canisters have been exported to Bahrain and 3.5 million are to be exported.

The canister collected by ‘Bahrain Watch’ was made by the company named ‘Daekwang Chemical Corporation’. One cannot avoid condemnation, both in humanitarian and international standard sense, [of] exporting Korean canisters to the country where hundreds are either being killed or injured by them.

Since your department is in charge of tear gas canister exportation, we ask for your cooperation in stopping the canister exportation by ‘Daekwang Chemical Corporation’ so that Bahraini people can no longer be suppressed or be killed.”

What you can do:

• Go to Stoptheshipment.org for information on how you can help the campaign

Rights activists have launched a campaign urging South Korea to cancel an imminent shipment of over 1.6 million tear gas canisters allegedly ordered by Bahraini authorities battling a two-and-a-half-year-long rebellion: here.

Human rights groups have expressed concern over an apparent request by the Bahraini government for large quantities of tear gas: here.

This is odd considering the history of tear gas to suppress popular dissent in South Korea throughout the latter part of the twentieth century in South Korea … however, the money side of this situation is not bad for South Korea since “the monetary value of the planned shipment is unclear, however based on an estimate of $10 to $20 per canister, the total price could be between $16 and $32 million”: here.

Tear-gas shells replace the Pearl as the symbol of Bahrain: here. And here.

Bahrain, more teargas canisters than people: here. And here.

‘Night raids, torture, sham trials a daily reality in Bahrain’ – human rights activist: here.

From Public Radio International:

Ahmed Ismail Hassan al Samadi was 22 years old, living in the small island-nation of Bahrain. His passion for photography and videography drew him to filming the protests that were taking place in Bahrain. They were part of the Arab uprising of 2011.

But Ahmed’s passion was also his undoing.

Credit: Courtesy of DAWNS.<“Who Shot Ahmed: A mystery unravels in Bahrain’s botched Arab Spring”

He was gunned down one night, while he was filming a protest that was taking place near his village. He later died of complications from his injury. Journalist Elizabeth Dickinson visited the island on the day Ahmed’s funeral was taking place.

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