On Monday, December 19, 2011, Syrian artist Jalal Al-Tawil was brutally attacked and seriously wounded in the head on his way back from a protest against the Syrian regime, in the Al-Midan district south of Damascus. Al-Tawil was severely beaten by thugs, who then took him to the police station. According to the official record, Al-Tawil was "rescued by security forces from the hands of protesters”, although the police did not take his own testimony. Al-Tawil refused to be treated by the police at the Al-Mujtahed hospital . As soon as the security forces released him, he went with a group of friends to a doctor who examined his three head wounds, one of which required seven stitches, and several bruises on the back.