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Water Cannons? Tear Gas?

March 23, 2021

Water Cannons? Tear Gas?


“Flora” (Roman Goddess of Spring), Villa di Arianna 1st Century A.D.

[..] the rifleman’s stalking the sick and the lame
Preacherman seeks the same, who’ll get there first is uncertain
Nightsticks, water cannons, tear gas, padlocks
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain
False-hearted judges, dying in the webs that they spin
Only a matter of time ’til night comes steppin’ in

Bob Dylan, Jokerman

I’ve seen huge amounts of riot police in many cities this weekend, in Holland, Germany, UK, Sweden, Canada, Florida and money more places (Miami Beach declared a state of emergency), using water cannons, horses, dogs, in some cases tear gas, to disperse relatively small and peaceful crowds. These things are normally used in case of serious rioting. But now the “justification” is that people are standing and walking too close together, and not obeying the “measures” and restrictions.

But that is exactly what they’re protesting. If you protest the measures, and they say you can only do that if you comply with those same measures, which includes asking permission beforehand, that is not a protest, that is theater. And the right to protest is not something that can just arbitrarily be taken away in a democratic country. Until now. Until Covid came along.

Here’s a clip of 14 countries with protests. They don’t include the water cannons etc. footage, which is fine by me.

Almost all countries have rising numbers of Covid cases again, so their only response will be re-activated: lockdown. Well, yes, the response now also includes vaccines as our only hope out of this, but those will take a long time to arrive everywhere, and both their efficacy and adverse effects remain major and untested questions.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Israel Deploys Tear-Gas Drones On Gaza Protesters

March 30, 2018

Israel Deploys Tear-Gas Drones On Gaza Protesters

Just  last week, we highlighted dramatic new footage showing  Israeli forces using a weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) against a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip, according to the Times of Israel.

The UAV is seen flying through the skies above hundreds of protestors, while operators of the aircraft drop chemical weapons into the crowd. The Times of Israel states that the UAV released tear gas, formally known as a lachrymator agent, which causes severe eye and respiratory pain, skin inflammation, bleeding, and even blindness.

Israeli Border Police Deputy Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, the government official behind the deployment of the weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), told Hadashot TV news that the tear gas drone provides security forces with an extended range to hurl chemical weapons at protestors.

“Beyond the fact that this equipment neutralizes any danger to the troops, it enables reaching places that until now we could not get to,” Shabtai told Hadashot TV news.

The weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “can carry up to six canisters at a time, and drop them individually, as clusters, or all at the same time,” said the Times of Israel.

Well they have used it once again today, following the deaths of seven protesters (and over 500 wounded) amid massive border protests, AFP reports, Israeli border police unleashed tear gas from a drone onto Palestinian protesters in Gaza this morning.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Caught On Camera: Israel Targets Civilians With A Chemical Weapon Drone

March 25, 2018

Caught On Camera: Israel Targets Civilians With A Chemical Weapon Drone

For the first time, Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV released new dramatic footage showing Israeli forces using a weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) against a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip, according to the Times of Israel.

The short video clip published by Al-Mayadeen shows a weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) targeting demonstrations in the southern Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The UAV is seen flying through the skies above hundreds of protestors, while operators of the aircraft drop chemical weapons into the crowd. The Times of Israel states that the UAV released tear gas, formally known as a lachrymator agent, which causes severe eye and respiratory pain, skin inflammation, bleeding, and even blindness.

The intense footage could provide us with the early knowledge that governments are willing to use high-tech military technology against civilians in a non-combat environment…

Israeli Border Police Deputy Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, the government official behind the deployment of the weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), told Hadashot TV news that the tear gas drone provides security forces with an extended range to hurl chemical weapons at protestors.

“Beyond the fact that this equipment neutralizes any danger to the troops, it enables reaching places that until now we could not get to,” Shabtai told Hadashot TV news.

The weaponized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “can carry up to six canisters at a time, and drop them individually, as clusters, or all at the same time,” said the Times of Israel.

The Israeli-based online newspaper did not provide the manufacture’s name of the UAV, but it is rumored that ISPRA Ltd in Herzelya, Israel, is the developer of the drone, dubbed Cyclone Riot Control Drone System.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Dozens arrested in anti-capitalism May Day protest in Montreal

May 2, 2015

Dozens arrested in anti-capitalism May Day protest in Montreal

Eighty-four protesters arrested, Montreal police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators and bystanders

Police arrested 84 people, including 27 on criminal charges, and used tear gas to disperse demonstrators at a night-time protest in downtown Montreal organized by a local anti-capitalist group called CLAC.

Hundreds of people gathered at at least three different locations around the city, well before the protests officially got underway at 7 p.m. ET.

The group called on protesters to cause the “maximum disruption possible” to businesses downtown.

However, the majority of the crowd were people carrying anti-austerity messages with no intention of vandalism or violence.

By 7:10 p.m., police had already declared the demonstrations illegal and began ordering protesters to disperse.

As demonstrators moved up McGill College Avenue from de Maisonneuve Boulevard, police began launching rounds of tear gas.

Children gassed by police

Families and bystanders were among those gassed early in the demonstration. One woman said she brought her family to the protest thinking it would be peaceful.

 

“Suddenly, there was tear gas all around us,” the woman, who did not give her name, said, as one of her children cried in the background.

“We have a baby with us.”

Montreal police Sgt. Laurent Gingras said it’s regrettable that families were caught in the fray, but he said police warned people to leave the area before firing rounds of tear gas.

 

Montreal police confirmed there were arrests, but did not have a final tally.

Police kettled protesters

Gingras said one of the challenges police face was splinter groups that appeared across the city, making it difficult to disperse protesters.

Bystander Sarah Campbell was walking home from eating dinner near Sherbrooke Street and Hutchison Street when she saw police approach one of the splinter groups, comprised of around 15 protesters.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Police Gas Student Protesters In Quebec

March 27, 2015

Police Gas Student Protesters In Quebec

Earlier this week we reported that the Blockupy movement — supporters of which set fire to the streets of Frankfurt earlier this month in an anti-austerity protest timed to coincide with the grand opening of the ECB’s new headquarters — had apparently spread across the Atlantic to the streets ofMontreal where students describing themselves as “an association of young communists and anti-capitalists” got tear gassed, sound bombed, and shot with rubber bullets after they failed to provide police with an itinerary as to what they planned to vandalize and when.

Just days later and aggrieved Canadian students are at it again, this time in Quebec City where hundreds gathered to protest austerity measures like shorter library hours. Here’s more from RT News:

Students in Quebec City were sprayed with tear gas by Canadian police after holding an ‘illegal’ gathering to protest the provincial budget. A brief scuffle broke out before law enforcement officers began randomly gassing the demonstrators.

Hundreds of students, some traveling from as far as Montreal, had gathered in front of the National Assembly to protest the Quebec government’s budget, which had been table on Thursday.

The demonstrators wanted to hold a protest in front of the National Assembly to show their disgust at cuts to services such as healthcare on campus and library hours. They were met by a line of riot police in full body armor.

According to reports, this group made the same mistake as the last group by not providing police with an itinerary thus rendering the whole endeavor illegal from the get go and so in the end, the outcome was largely the same: some folks got gassed.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

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