Dominica Police use expired tear gas on protestors
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Dominica Police use expired tear gas on protestors

By TDN Wire Staff
May 18, 2015 1:05 A.M



tear gas
Some of the expended projectiles fired by the Dominica police during last Monday's protest.
Roseau, Dominica (TDN) Dominica Police used expired US manufactured tear gas rounds on protestors in the coastal village of Salisbury last Monday.

Local attorney Teyani Behanzi presented evidence of the CS rounds, some of which had expired as much as twenty years ago, at a press conference this morning.

Speaking to the national media the local attorney accused the authorities of “violently attacking the villagers of Salisbury,” some of whom were tear gassed in their own homes.

The violence escalated last Monday May 11, 2015 when Police officers some dressed in military fatigues moved to break up protestors who had blocked a major highway effectively cutting out traffic between most of the Western Coast of Dominica and the capital city of Roseau.

They were protesting lack of access to their farms because of what they say is government neglect of the feeder roads in the country.

After clearing the road, the Police proceeded into the heart of the village expending tear gas rounds as well as rubber bullets and some say live rounds of M16 ammunition, effectively laying siege to the village.

Behanzin urged the protestors to pursue legal action against the authorities for their illegal use of the tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles against them. He also revealed that he would be writing to the International Criminal Court in the Hague as well as the Caribbean Community CARICOM to initiate an inquiry into the authorities response to the protest.

Warnings on the canisters clearly state that they should not be used after five years on protestors and should not be utilised for training purposes after six years.

Egyptian Police use of expired tear gas in 2011 made international headlines when many protestors turned violently ill after being showered with the projectiles.

Experts generally agree that typical effects of common forms of tear gas are a burning, watery sensation in the eyes, difficulty breathing, chest pain, excessive saliva and skin irritation. Heavy exposure can also induce vomiting. They are less certain about the actual impact of expired tear gas.

Rubber bullets, which typically consist of a 40-millimeter metal shell coated in rubber are meant to incapacitate targets but does not often result in serious injury or death. They are classified as “nonlethal” weapons along the same lines as tear gas, pepper spray and stun guns.

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