(CNN) -- Bahrain defended its decision Wednesday to impose a ban on all public protests, following calls from rights group Amnesty International to lift it immediately as a breach of people's right to free speech. Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority said in a statement that the ban was needed because "increasing violence has resulted in death and serious injury to many." Most recently, two police officers died as a result of attacks with petrol bombs and a homemade bomb, the IAA said. Since the start of the year, there have on average been two or more licensed protests a week, the authority said, many of which expressed views critical of the government.
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NEW: The ban is needed because of increasing violence at rallies, Bahraini officials say
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Amnesty International calls for the ban on public protests to be lifted immediately
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Amnesty says the ban is a violation of people's rights to free speech and assembly
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Officials shouldn't use "violent acts of a few as a pretext" to restrict the rights of all, it says
"The reality is that one would be hard pressed to find a protest that both begins and ends peacefully," @placeholder spokesman Fahad Albinali said.