Police have injured more than 120,000 people in protests worldwide since 2015, report says

A remarkable figure. More than 120,000 people have been injured by tear gas canisters or defense bullets fired by police during demonstrations around the world since 2015, according to the report published on Wednesday March 22 by the medical association Physicians for Human Rights, the International Network of civil rights organizations (Inclo) and the British Omega Foundation.

These organizations have gone through the medical reports drawn up, among other things, during the “yellow vests” movement in France, anti-racist Black Lives Matter parades or pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and Burma. On the basis of this inevitably fragmented information, the report describes the health impact of non-lethal weapons used by police forces around the world in the face of “the legitimate exercise of a democratic right”.

A dozen dead after demonstrations

According to this report, tear gas canisters and other chemical irritants have injured 119,113 people over the past seven years. Among them, 4% required hospitalization or surgery. At least fourteen people have died after inhaling these gases.

The so-called projectiles “defense”, including rubber bullets, injured 2,190 people, 65% of them in the eyes. At least 945 have lifelong sequelae and 12 died as a result of this impact, count the authors of the study who also describe the consequences of stun grenades, water cannons or truncheons.

“Renewed tension”

For them, the forces of order, including in democratic countries, tend to abuse their power in the face of the protest movements which have multiplied since the beginning of the 21st century. Instead of dispersing the crowds, “this often leads to renewed tensions and an escalation of conflicts”, regret the organizations. They recommend better regulating these weapons, better training officers in their use and not using them indiscriminately.

“I’ve been working on crowd control weapons and their impact for ten years, and I continue to be bewildered by the lack of data and transparency from manufacturers.”

Rohini Haar, emergency physician

in the report “Lethal in disguise”

Despite their frequent use worldwide, “there is no significant regulation or obligation to record data for police forces in the vast majority of countries”also regretted the main author of the report in a press release.