Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A police officer fires rubber bullets at demonstrators during a general strike against a pension reform measure in Buenos Aires, Argentina, earlier this month. Natacha Pisarenko
Crowd control

'Blindness, removal of the spleen': Study finds rubber bullets are not safe

The US study found three in every 100 people injured by rubber bullets died as a result.

ABOUT THREE IN every 100 people injured by rubber bullets died as a result, according to a review of recorded casualties published Tuesday, calling for alternative crowd control measures.

A team of US-based researchers looked at 26 scientific reports published on injury, disability and death caused by rubber bullets between 1990 and 2017 in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the United States, India, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Turkey, and Nepal.

A total of 1984 people were injured, they found, of whom 53 (three percent) died.

“Some 300 (15.5 percent) of all survivors were left with permanent disability as a direct result of the rubber bullet impact they sustained — usually to the head and neck,” the team said in statement.

“Blindness, and removal of the spleen, or a section of the bowel as a result of abdominal injuries, accounted for most of this disability.”

Also known as kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs) or rubber baton rounds, rubber or plastic bullets were introduced by the British army in the 1970s for use against rioters in Northern Ireland, deployed against South African protesters in the 1980s, and adopted by the security forces of Israel and further afield.

They are meant to stun rather than kill people as a means of riot and crowd control, but have left a long line of victims in their trail.

The new study sought to count the toll.

“We find that these projectiles have caused significant morbidity (injury) and mortality during the past 27 years,” the study authors wrote.

“Given their inherent inaccuracy, potential for misuse and associated health consequences of severe injury and death, KIPs do not appear to be appropriate weapons for use in crowd-control settings.”

The team pointed out that other crowd-control weapons such as tear gas, water cannons, acoustic weapons and electric tasers, have also caused “significant injury” over the years.

“This discussion does not in any way suggest that other weapons are safer,” they wrote in the online journal BMJ Open.

But it did imply that “appropriate use of force and alternatives to weapons must be considered in all contexts,” the researchers concluded, and appealed for the urgent creation of “international guidelines” on the use of crowd-control weapons.

- © AFP 2017.

Read: Police fire rubber bullets at crowd to stop Istanbul Pride parade>

Read: Israeli activists taunt Palestinian hunger strikers by having barbecue outside prison>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
54
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel