The origins of tear gas, a creation made in France

In the program "Historically yours" on Europe 1, the journalist David Castello-Lopes returned Thursday to the origin of the tear gas.

An invention made in France which gives the impression that we are going to go blind and which is used more and more in the framework of demonstrations in our country.

Journalist David Castello-Lopes comes back every day, in the program Historically yours on Europe 1, on the origins of an object or a concept.

Thursday, he is interested in tear gas, the smoke that burns the throat and eyes, and that we find more and more often in demonstrations. 

"You might not know it, but before I was a joke reporter, I was a normal reporter. That is, just a guy who gives news. And I started. my career at the radio TSF Jazz For those who do not know TSF Jazz, know that every hour, we cut Miles Davis or Ibrahim Maalouf and there is a man or a lady who makes a flash or a newspaper.

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In 2006 I was therefore reporting on what was happening in Paris, at the time in particular the anti-CPE demonstrations.

And I was caught, like so many journalists before and so many journalists after me, in a charge of CRS.

I tasted it for the first time in my life with tear gas.

A pre-war French invention

Until then, I must say that when I saw images on TV of people in demonstrations taking tear gas, I said to myself "blah it must be tingling".

But that day, I realized that it was not: tear gas does infinitely more than "tingle".

It completely smashes your face, you can't open your eyes anymore, you have the impression that you are going to go blind.

The throat burns, we cough without being able to stop… It's horrible.

So putting stinging stuff in the eyes of enemies to stop bothering you is a pretty old practice.

It was already done in Japan in the Middle Ages with chili powder.

But modern tear gas is French and dates from just before World War I.

The French police then carried out tests.

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But it was during World War I that it was used on a large scale.

And it is quite possible (even if it is not completely proven) that it was a French tear gas attack which started the chemical war between Germany and France, with this outbidding which led to the use of gas that didn't just cry but just killed you.

Success in the United States

In France, after the First World War, gas had become a bit taboo because of the damage it had done in the trenches.

It has therefore temporarily ceased to be used by the police.

In contrast, an American general who had handled the war gas affairs for the United States during the war began, upon returning home, to be a kind of tear gas ambassador.

And he convinced several US police departments to start using it, which worked really well.

Why ?

Because it's kind of the perfect weapon to disperse crowds.

Amos Fries, an American journalist wrote in the 1930s that "tear gas appears to be admirably suited for the purpose of extracting the individual from the crowd. The gas causes the individual to be unable to think of anything else. other than relieving one's own distress. Under these conditions, the crowd ceases to exist. All that remains is a flight intended to get away from the source of the torture. "

And Amos Fries added: "It's easier for a man to keep his spirits up in the face of rifle bullets than in the face of tear gas."

Pretty soon all the American police and then all the fonts in the world started using it.

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One surprising thing remains, however, that international law prohibits the use of tear gas on the battlefield.

On the other hand, to disperse the yellow vests, that does not seem to pose a problem.

Why ?

Surely because, a bit like during the First World War, there is a risk of escalation on the battlefield, with the return of lethal gas.

For me, during the anti-CPE protests, it didn't end so badly.

Even though I was a little bohemian Parisian with a TSF jazz microphone, I was nevertheless rescued by young revolutionaries who spoke with what is sometimes called "the lascivious accent".

And it touched me because it meant that there was a kind of common social front in the face of the adversity of tears and coughs.

They put me eye drops, they gave me a towel and it went very well.

In the end, it's almost a good memory.