In December 1994, protestors took to the streets demanding the restoration of democratic rights and the reconvening of the National Assembly. The Bahraini government responded by ignoring the demands and stifled calls for political change through rampant human rights violations. Thousands of men, women and children (as young as nine and ten years of age) were detained in a ten-month period between December 1994 and October 1995 under arbitrary accusations under the State Security Law. At least 100 were subsequently charged and convicted to terms of imprisonment, and in one case death. Two prisoners died while in police custody. Police forces and riot police were deployed against protestors and used violent means to disperse crowds. By 1995, ten confirmed deaths of Bahraini nationals presented circumstances that suggest they may have been extrajudicially executed, and at least twenty Bahraini nationals were exiled or denied entry when trying to return to the country.