Report: 119K people hurt by riot-control weapons since 2015

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — More than 119,000 people have been injured by tear gas and other chemical irritants around the world since 2015 and some 2,000 suffered injuries from “less lethal” impact projectiles. That’s according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights and the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations. It took 2 1/2 years to research and provides a rare partial count of casualties, compiled from medical literature, from these devices used by police around the world. The groups called for bans of rubber bullets and of multi-projectile devices in all crowd-control settings and tighter restrictions on weapons that may be used indiscriminately.