More than 120,000 people were injured by tear gas or non-lethal bullets used by police during protests around the world in 2015, according to a report released Wednesday.

Medical Association Physicians for Human Rights (Doctors for Human Rights), International Network of Organizations for Civil Rights (Inclo) and the British Omega Foundation examined the medical reports made, in particular, during the movement of “yellow vests” in France, anti-racist demonstrations of black people “Life has meaning” or the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and Myanmar.

Based on this fragmented information, their report Lethal in disguise describes the impact of non-lethal weapons used by police around the world on the “legitimate exercise of democratic rights”.

According to the report, tear gas and other chemical irritants injured 119,113 people in the past seven years, 4% of whom required hospitalization or surgery. At least fourteen people died after inhaling these gases.

So-called “defensive” projectiles, including rubber bullets, injured 2,190 people, 65 percent of them in the eyes. At least 945 suffered lifelong effects and 12 died as a result of the impact, say the authors of the survey, which also describes the effects of stun grenades, water cannons or batons.

Law enforcement agencies abuse their power in front of protesters

For them, the forces of order, including in democratic countries, tend to abuse their power in the face of protest movements that have multiplied since the beginning of the 21st century.

Instead of dispersing crowds, “it often leads to increased tensions and escalation of conflicts,” the NGO says, recommending better regulation of the weapons, better training of officers in their use and that they are not used in a non-discriminatory manner.

“I’ve been working on crowd control weapons and their effects for a decade, and I’m still amazed at the lack of data and transparency from the manufacturers,” commented emergency physician Rohini Haar, lead author of the report.

Although they are widely used around the world, “there are no significant regulations or data recording requirements for police forces in the vast majority of countries,” she said in a statement.