Bahrain regime use CS Riot Control Agents as lethal Weapons

Bahrain authorities ‘weaponising’ tear gas
27 Febraury, 2013 – BBC

A US-based human rights group has accused the authorities in Bahrain of indiscriminately using tear gas as a weapon against protesters.

Physicians for Human Rights said it was resulting in the maiming, blinding and even killing of civilians.

The Bahraini government rejected the criticism, saying its security forces conformed to international standards.

Activists say at least 30 people have died as a result of tear gas use in Bahrain since protests began last year.

Tear gas is a generic term for a group of at least 15 toxic chemical agents that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants. CS gas is the most commonly used by for crowd control.
‘Unprecedented’

The report published by PHR on Wednesday, entitled Weaponising Tear Gas, was based on interviews with more than 100 Bahrainis and evidence gathered by PHR’s investigators in April.

Its authors said the extensive and persistent use of tear gas against civilians by Bahrain’s security forces during the past 18 months was unprecedented in the 100-year history of its use throughout the world.

“Law enforcement officials have deployed this toxic agent to punish protesters, inflict suffering, and suppress dissent. Usually perceived by the public and security forces as a benign tool for crowd control, tear gas, especially when used in large quantities and in enclosed spaces, poses serious health risks and even causes death,” they wrote.
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Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof”

Bahrain Information Affairs Authority

“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women, and children, including the elderly and infirm.”

The report said Bahrain’s majority Shia community, which has led the protests demanding reforms by the Sunni royal family, had suffered abnormally prolonged exposure.

This had led to significant increases in miscarriages and respiratory problems in areas where tear gas was used frequently, it added.

The report described instances in which non-protesters had tear gas fired into their cars or homes. In at least two cases, people died from complications related to exposure to tear gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces, it said.

Civilians had also suffered serious wounds when their heads and limbs were hit by metal canisters fired at close range, the authors found. …more