A/HRC/19/61/Add.1 Torture and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.4 35. The previous regime permitted no independent oversight of places of detention, with the exception of granting ICRC access to prisons as of 2005. After the revolution, the interim Government opened the prisons up to external inspection by international, and some national, human rights organizations. B. The situation during and after the revolution 1. Excessive use of force and abuses committed during the revolution 36. The Special Rapporteur received numerous accounts and eyewitness testimonies from families of persons killed or wounded during the period December 2010 to January 2011. Witnesses who had participated in protests in Tunis, Kasserine and Bizerte, consistently alleged that despite the largely peaceful nature of the demonstrations, the security forces frequently intervened with excessive use of force. According to some reports and testimonies, the authorities used tear gas and live ammunition. Some eyewitnesses reported snipers shooting protesters from rooftops. According to some official accounts, between 8 and 12 January 2011, police and security forces shot 21 peaceful protesters in Kasserine and Tala alone. 37. Figures on the death toll and injuries suffered during the events of December 2010 to January 2011, vary. According to an OHCHR report, 5 figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice indicate that between 17 December 2010 and the end of January 2011, 147 persons had died during, or in circumstances surrounding, the demonstrations, while another 510 had been injured. Several human rights organizations have reported a much higher number of killings since the beginning of the protests. According to them, the death toll reached approximately 400, including detainees killed in prison. The head of the fact-finding commission told the Special Rapporteur that he estimated that the number of dead would rise to about 200 and the injured to about 800; the final total could take up to one year to determine. 38. The Special Rapporteur received information according to which, during the same period, fires and other incidents in several prisons resulted in the deaths of 72 prisoners. It is not clear what happened in the prisons at the time. According to reports, in at least four prisons (Monastir, Mahdia, Bourj al-Roumi and Gabès) inmates died by asphyxiation, burns or bullet wounds following intervention by security forces. At the Bourj al-Roumi prison the Special Rapporteur observed the damage to several cellblocks that had been held for several weeks by the inmates. 2. Abuses committed after the revolution 39. On 5 May 2011, a wave of new protests broke out, with hundreds of demonstrators demanding the departure of the second interim Government. The police reacted, according to numerous reports, with violence against journalists and protesters. Police subjected a total of 15 reporters and photographers working for local and foreign media to beatings and insults and confiscated their equipment. The Special Rapporteur welcomed the initiative of the Ministry of the Interior to issue a public apology and to open an inquiry into the incidents. 4 5 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fourth session, Supplement No. 44 (A/54/44), para. 97 and A/HRC/16/51/Add.2, para. 22. OHCHR, “Report of the OHCHR Assessment Mission to Tunisia, 26 January–2 February 2011”, para. 39. 9