zlacker

>>hhs+(OP)
In my city we have seen several peaceful protesters (some quite some distance away from police) be nearly killed by less lethal ammunition. Being hit in the head or neck by a rubber bullet will drop a person to the ground unconscious instantly. This means they can even hit their head again against pavement. Nobody has died yet, but they are clearly extremely dangerous.

We have also seen the use of tear gas. I don't want the police to hurt anyone, but I haven't seen any long term damage from its use.

If police are going to use force, from what I have seen, tear gas is less dangerous. It is still awful. I'd rather it not be used, but I just wanted to share what I've seen.

>>montec+M6
Police appear to be misusing rubber bullets, possibly on purpose.

Rubber bullets are supposed to be fired at shin height, to achieve the appropriate mix of pain and risk reduction. They’re not zero risk because of ricochets, but flat, low trajectories help. It should go without saying that they should only be used when necessary, but if they must be used there is a way it should be done.

The number of people being struck in the chest and head by rubber bullets implies that the cops are aiming for the head, a gross abuse of force if true.

>>ashton+A7
In the UK (N.Ireland) rubber baton rounds used to (not sure about currently) have to be shot to ricochet off something, so you would fire it a few feet infront of the protestors with the round deflecting up to the legs/lower body and losing some of its velocity during the ricochet.

>>celtic+rm
That might have been the official doctrine, but the British Army absolutely used them to kill people, often firing directly at the head or chest at close range.

>>dmurra+js
wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_bullet

When I was at school they[0] brought round a rubber bullet (I presume it was a plastic bullet actually but they called it rubber). It was a light grey, featureless cylinder, flat at both ends, at least as my memory has it. It was surprisingly light, seemed to have barely any heft at all.

We were told it was the very bullet that killed a protester in northen ireland.

[0] I can't remember who 'they' were, an ant-violence group I guess.