"The massive use of tear gas outside the legal framework worries us"

• After a year of investigation, the NGO defending rights and freedoms publishes an interactive platform aimed at identifying cases of abuse of tear gas.
• In France, several cases have highlighted an illegal use of this irritant, in particular against peaceful demonstrators.
• The association also calls for regulating the marketing of these gases and for greater transparency from manufacturers on the chemical composition of this product.

Burning eyes and mouth, breathing difficulties and tears rising. From Khartoum to Hong Kong via Philadelphia or Paris, these symptoms, which are so characteristic of exposure to tear gas, are now well known to the demonstrators. Used by security forces around the world, this irritant chemical agent was the subject of a major investigation for a year by the human rights NGO, Amnesty International. Based on a verification work of nearly 500 videos, the association will put online this Thursday the fruit of this research gathered on a dedicated interactive site.

Aiming to disperse a crowd in the event of violence, these tear gas are used more and more outside the international legal framework, says Amnesty. Abuse which tends to become commonplace. What impact do these gases have on our health? And how does France - a country studied among the 22 selected by the NGO - use this non-lethal weapon during law enforcement operations? Anne-Sophie Simpere, Liberties advocacy officer for Amnesty, answers all these questions for  20 Minutes.

What does this platform consist of?

It is an interactive website dedicated to the misuse of tear gas by the security forces. We propose a cartography which makes it possible to visualize various events identified by our digital team made up of experts trained in verification of sources in free access. This team worked on this project for a year and verified almost 500 videos published online. The team, which relied on a network of students from six universities on four continents, selected 80 videos that demonstrate the excessive use of tear gas in 22 countries, in Hong Kong, in France or still in the United States. This platform is scalable and can be updated if new cases emerge.

What is the objective of this platform?

Today, tear gas is often touted as a benign way to disperse crowds. The objective of this platform is to point out the dangerousness of this non-lethal weapon, its consequences on health and the increasingly frequent use of illegal uses of these gases. The selected videos point to a whole range of dangerous uses. There are cases in which police officers shoot directly at demonstrators, causing serious injuries and in some cases fatalities. We also see tear gas being fired at vulnerable people, in a department of a hospital in Sudan or the use of these gases in confined spaces. This is what we denounce.

Beyond the known irritant effects of tear gas, what do we know today about their health effects?

It can be quite wide and it mainly depends on the composition of the gas and the more or less significant presence of certain chemicals. There is a real stake on this subject since we note that there is no transparency on the compositions of the gases marketed throughout the world. But we know that the irritant effects in case of heavy use can lead to serious complications in the eyes, with conjunctivitis or in the respiratory tract. Deaths by suffocation or after a taut shot have been recorded.

What other lessons emerge from the analysis carried out in the 22 countries studied?

What worries us is this increasingly widespread trend towards massive use of tear gas outside the legal framework, and therefore to excessive use. The United Nations has defined international principles on the use of force and this weapon. Tear gas should only be used as a means of dispersal in the event of widespread mob violence and only if the other means available to the security forces have not been followed up.

VIDEO: Police fire tear gas to clear hundreds of protesters from a Philadelphia highway, as demonstrators came out to protest the deaths of black people at the hands of police amid a wave of unrest sweeping the United States pic.twitter.com/b7KFKC9iqw

However, all over the world, we see that these gases are also used against peaceful demonstrators, as we saw recently in Philadelphia during a rally in tribute to Georges Floyd. Law enforcement officials fired numerous cartridges while demonstrators were trapped on a highway. We also saw it last year in France against environmental activists gathered for the march for the climate.

The other point on which we wish to alert is the absence of regulations concerning the marketing and export of these gases. It is a Category B weapon and there is currently no ban on the producers of these gases from exporting their products to countries where the risk of violation of human and fundamental rights is significant. That must change.

What fears concern more specifically France?

In France, tear gas has been used many times on peaceful demonstrators. It has become quite routine. During the march for the climate, as mentioned above, or during the recent high school student movement. Tear gas was also fired at crowded crowds. It is illegal since it is recalled, the objective of this non-lethal weapon is to be able to disperse a crowd. If people are surrounded and gassed, their physical integrity is threatened, it is dangerous and it can also represent an infringement of the right to demonstrate.

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• Demonstration
• Human rights
• Society
• Gas
• CRS
• Police
• Gendarmerie