(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Former British Police commissioner, who is now employed by the Bahraini regime, has claimed that Bahraini forces would harshly respond to anti-regime protests during the Formula One Grand Prix 2012.
John Yates, who was hired last year by the Bahraini regime of al-Khalifa to help its forces deal with anti-regime protesters, said that the regime’s Saudi-backed forces would retaliate with live rounds.
"The police will have all the options you would expect,” the British policeman said. “If the opposition started firing live ammunition, the police would respond with live."
While admitting the kingdom could not guarantee the safety of the teams and spectators during F1 motor race, Yates said, "People say can we guarantee security. Of course we can't guarantee security. I'd be a fool to sit here and say that.”
On Wednesday, Bahraini people staged several protests across the country, with hundreds of them carrying banners urging Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, to cancel the sport event in response to the suppression of anti-regime protests.
"Our demand: Freedom not Formula," read one banner. "We are human without rights," said another.
According to the reports, the regime forces attacked the protesters in Bahraini capital of Manama and fired stun grenades at those protesting outside a cultural exhibition for Bahrain's Formula One race.
Yates resigned last year from his post as Scotland Yard’s assistant commissioner in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, but was soon hired on a six-month contract by the Bahraini regime, whose police have used excessive force and torture in its brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
"There will be protests over the weekend. But we want to make this a sporting event not a security event. The man who is heading the security said he wanted security to be felt but not seen. And I applaud that,” the UK officer also known as "Yates of the Yard” said.
Earlier on Friday, FIA announced that the motor race in Bahrain would go ahead, after the officials including Yates assured that the Kingdom was calm and ready for the Grand Prix.
However, Bahraini activists stressed that the F1 go-ahead was a clear insult to the families of protesters killed by the al-Khalifa regime in demonstrations that have engulfed the country for over a year.
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John Yates, who was hired last year by the Bahraini regime of al-Khalifa to help its forces deal with anti-regime protesters, said that the regime’s Saudi-backed forces would retaliate with live rounds.
"The police will have all the options you would expect,” the British policeman said. “If the opposition started firing live ammunition, the police would respond with live."
While admitting the kingdom could not guarantee the safety of the teams and spectators during F1 motor race, Yates said, "People say can we guarantee security. Of course we can't guarantee security. I'd be a fool to sit here and say that.”
On Wednesday, Bahraini people staged several protests across the country, with hundreds of them carrying banners urging Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, to cancel the sport event in response to the suppression of anti-regime protests.
"Our demand: Freedom not Formula," read one banner. "We are human without rights," said another.
According to the reports, the regime forces attacked the protesters in Bahraini capital of Manama and fired stun grenades at those protesting outside a cultural exhibition for Bahrain's Formula One race.
Yates resigned last year from his post as Scotland Yard’s assistant commissioner in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, but was soon hired on a six-month contract by the Bahraini regime, whose police have used excessive force and torture in its brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
"There will be protests over the weekend. But we want to make this a sporting event not a security event. The man who is heading the security said he wanted security to be felt but not seen. And I applaud that,” the UK officer also known as "Yates of the Yard” said.
Earlier on Friday, FIA announced that the motor race in Bahrain would go ahead, after the officials including Yates assured that the Kingdom was calm and ready for the Grand Prix.
However, Bahraini activists stressed that the F1 go-ahead was a clear insult to the families of protesters killed by the al-Khalifa regime in demonstrations that have engulfed the country for over a year.
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