More than 120,000 people have been injured by tear gas or plastic bullets fired by police during protests around the world since 2015, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and the British Omega Foundation scrutinized medical reports during, among others, the Yellow Vest movements in France, anti-racist demonstrations and the Black Lives movement. Matter in the US, pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong and Myanmar.

This information, sometimes sketchy, formed the basis of their report “Deadly Disguise”, which describes the health consequences of the use of theoretically non-lethal weapons by police around the world against the “legitimate exercise of democratic right”.

119,113 people affected by tear gas and other chemicals in 7 years

According to the report, tear gas and other chemicals have injured 119,113 people over the past seven years, 4% of whom required hospitalization or surgery. At least 14 people died from chemical poisoning.

So-called “defensive” projectiles, including plastic bullets, injured 2,190 people, 65% of which hit the eyes or around the eyes. At least 945 people were permanently disabled (partly or completely blind) and 12 died, according to the report, which also mentions exposure to stun grenades, water cannons, batons.

Excessive use of force

According to the authors of the report, law enforcement agencies, even in democratic countries, tend to use excessive force when confronted with protest movements that have become more frequent since the beginning of the 21st century.

Rather than disperse crowds, their actions often “increase tensions and escalate conflicts,” according to organizations that recommend stricter regulation of the use of these weapons, better police training in their use, and avoiding them indiscriminately or from afar, because in this latter case they become more imprecise by definition.

“It’s been ten years since I worked on weapons of mass destruction and their aftermath, and I’m still horrified by the lack of data and transparency on the part of their manufacturers,” commented resuscitator Dr. Rohini Haar, lead author of the article. .

Despite their frequent use around the world, “there is no systematic control over them, no obligation to record data (about him) by the police in the vast majority of countries,” he added.

Source: RES-IPE