Tear Gas

Portland’s Mayor Tear-Gassed By Militarized US Police

July 23, 2020 Gillian Flaccus, AP. Resist! Police abuse, Portland, Tear Gas, Ted Wheeler

The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said Wednesday night it was the first time he’d been tear-gassed. He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire between protective fencing and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

How Tear Gas Became A Staple Of US Law Enforcement

June 29, 2020 By Lauren Vespoli, JSTOR Daily. Educate! Bonus Army, Chemical Weapons, Police violence, Tear Gas

On July 28, 1932, President Herbert Hoover dispatched federal troops and tanks to disperse the “Bonus Army,” tens of thousands of jobless World War I veterans and their families who’d been protesting in the nation’s capital. The troops used tear gas. Two men and two infants were reported dead. As one of the first major protests in which the American government used tear gas—which is considered a weapon of war—on its own citizens, the Bonus Army incident created public outrage, ruining any chance of Hoover’s reelection. For the chemical companies trying to sell tear gas to law enforcement, however, the Bonus Army was a successful demonstration of their product.

Here’s What ‘Nonlethal’ Weapons Can Do To The Body

June 18, 2020 By Amy McKeever, National Geographic. Educate! Chemical Weapons, health, Police violence, Rebellion2020, Tear Gas

Civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's death has spread around the world, and in some places, protesters are being met with tear gas, rubber bullets, stun guns, and other tactics intended to control crowds without taking lives. Known as nonlethal or less-lethal weapons, many of these tactics were originally pitched as a way to make warfare more humane by incapacitating a person or encouraging them to flee. Law enforcement agencies later adopted these weapons from the military as an alternative to using firearms. Yet people who study nonlethal weapons wonder if reclassification is in order, as research continues to reveal their damaging ramifications on the body. When misused, these weapons break bones, burn the skin, and cause internal injuries that can be fatal. Here’s a look at when and why serious injuries occur with nonlethal weapons, and what people can do to protect themselves.

Bethlehem’s ‘Santa Claus March’ With Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets

December 25, 2019 Middle East Monitor Resist! Christmas, Israel, Palestine, Tear Gas

Israeli forces Friday suppressed Bethlehem’s “Santa Claus March,” shooting tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at participants, with many suffering from tear gas inhalation. A number of demonstrators, including five journalists and foreigners, participated in a march near the Israeli checkpoint 300 in the north of Bethlehem, which separates residents from Jerusalem. The march, which includes participants dressing up as Santa Claus close to the Christian holiday of Christmas, was launched under the banner “Terrorism and occupation are two sides of the same coin,” and demanded the opening of Israeli checkpoints for Christian tourists to celebrate the holiday in the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

French Police Face Probe Over Tear Gas At Climate Protest

July 5, 2019 Deutsche Welle. Educate! Extinction Rebellion, France, Police abuse, Tear Gas

Police in France faced criticism on Monday after a video of officers spraying tear gas on climate protesters staging a sit-in on a bridge emerged online, prompting the French interior minister to call for an investigation. The protest over the French government's environment policies was held by members of the Extinction Rebellion group at the Pont de Sully bridge during sweltering heat on Friday. A video shared on Twitter and since widely broadcast on news channels shows a group of protesters sitting on the ground with their arms linked and heads bowed after they had refused orders to vacate the bridge. When they refuse to move, officers spray them with hand-held tear gas canisters, while the demonstrators try to protect their faces.

G20: You Can Smell Tear Gas In The Streets As The Oil Industry Squabbles

December 6, 2018 Globetrotter, Independentmediainstitute.org Educate! Class Struggle, G20, Oil, Tear Gas

Last week, two important meetings took place—one, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of the Group of 20 (G20) nations, and two, in Vienna, Austria, of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other oil producers. The two meetings did not produce any resolution to the major economic challenges in the world. But they did soothe the nerves of financial markets. At the G20, the United States and China dialed down the temperature over trade but did not settle the long-term grievances each side has of the other. At the OPEC+ meeting, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to cut production and raise the price of oil despite pressure from the United States and others to keep oil prices low.

The Rise Of Resistance And Resilience To Tear Gas

June 2, 2018 Anna Feigenbaum, Wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Repression, Resistance, Tear Gas

All around the world people invent, adapt and share techniques for resilience and resistance to tear gas. In doing so, they care for each other. They transform this weapon into a collectivizing tool. There is a growing transnational solidarity of tear gas resilience, aided by social media and mobile technologies that help protesters circulate relief remedies, gas mask designs and grenade throwback techniques. Displaying what social movement researcher Gavin Grindon has called “grassroots cultural diplomacy,” these tips are tweeted from Greece to New York, from Palestine to Ferguson, from Egypt to Hong Kong. In places like Bahrain and Palestine, widespread and even daily use of tear gas has made this chemical weapon a part of life.

Tear Gas Not The Only Thing Connecting Ferguson And Palestine

August 19, 2014 Ryan Rodrick Beiler, www.972mag.com Educate! Ferguson, Israel, Police, Protest, Tear Gas, Violence

The New York Times’ Robert Mackey recently tweeted a photo of the tear gas cartridges found on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, where police have been using the weapon against demonstrators angry at the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager. Both the cartridge and the tactics looked very familiar, and for good reason. Jamestown, PA’s CTS brand tear gas fired in #Ferguson tonight https://t.co/XwMO3tBuDp in the West Bank last week https://t.co/XNWlEDvqFF — Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) August 18, 2014 A different tweet noted that the same brand of tear gas was used in Egypt’s Tahrir Square. As reported here last December, those shining shell casings, as well as the rubber-ball variety and spent stun grenades made by the same company, had decorated a tree in Bethlehem’s Manger Square at Christmastime as activists gathered those used by the Israeli military less than two kilometers away in Aida Refugee Camp and displayed them for holiday tourists.

African Firm Is Selling Pepper-Spray Bullet-Firing Drones

June 20, 2014 Leo Kelion, www.bbc.com Educate! Drones, Dystopia, Protest, Tear Gas

The maker of a drone that fires pepper spray bullets says it has received its first order for the machine. South Africa-based Desert Wolf told the BBC it had secured the sale of 25 units to a mining company after showing off the tech at a trade show. It is marketing the device as a "riot control copter" that can tackle crowds "without endangering the lives of security staff". But the International Trade Union Confederation is horrified by the idea. "This is a deeply disturbing and repugnant development and we are convinced that any reasonable government will move quickly to stop the deployment of advanced battlefield technology on workers or indeed the public involved in legitimate protests and demonstrations," said spokesman Tim Noonan. He added that the ITUC would now try to identify which company had ordered the drones.

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