U.S. Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets Suppress Peaceful Uprisings Around the World

A survey of news reports and eyewitness photos from the last six months indicates that tear gas grenades and canisters being used around the world to suppress peaceful demonstrations and prevent political change in despotic regimes are largely made and sold by U.S. companies, often with the consent of the U.S. government.  Police and security forces in Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Bahrain, Yemen and Greece have all utilized U.S.-made tear gas and other “less lethal” munitions, such as rubber bullets.

Controversy over the topic of U.S. sales of tear gas to foreign governments first arose when protesters in Egypt’s Tahrir Square discovered that the canisters that were being launched at them bore a large “Made in the U.S.A.” mark on the side.  After some investigation, reporters discovered that the 40MM CS smoke projectiles were manufactured by a Pennsylvania-based company called Combined Systems Inc and that the company had also sold the munitions to Tunisia and Israel.  ProPublica later reported that the U.S. State Department reviewed and approved the company’s sale of tear gas to Egypt.  In at least one case in Tunisia, these tear gas canisters are known to have killed a 32-year-old photographer named Lucas Mebrouk Dolega who was working for the European PressPhoto Agency.

In January 2011, prior to the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, a tear gas projectile made by the same company killed a Palestinian protester by the name of Jawaher Abu Rahmah.  The year prior, in April 2009, his brother had also been killed by a tear gas projectile made in the United States.  In the case of both Israel and Egypt, the tear gas projectiles were used despite the fact that they were expired, something explicitly prohibited on the label of the munition.

Subsequent uprisings in both Bahrain and Yemen, which are both closely connected to U.S. military interests, were also suppressed using U.S. made tear gas and rubber bullets.  A BBC article on the uprising in Yemen noted that “Yemenis are furious that units from the US-backed Central Security Forces, commanded by one of Mr Saleh’s nephews, have played such a prominent role in cracking down on pro-democracy protests. US-made CS gas canisters, allegedly intended for counter-terrorism operations, have also been used in raids against pro-democracy protesters.” Another BBC photo report from February 19, 2011 shows a photo of a protester in Bahrain holding a rubber bullet projectile produced by NonLethal Technologies, another Pennsylvania-based company.

In Greece, recent protests surrounding harsh austerity measures that are being imposed by the Greek government have also been suppressed by U.S.-made tear gas.  A photo posted online on Flickr indicates tear gas grenades being used by Greek police are marked according to standards that are defined in U.S. Army Technical Manual (TM) 9-1330-200-34, which describes procedures for the maintenance of grenades and anti-riot munitions.  The grenade reads “GREN HAND” and “IRRT A-RIOT” indicating that it is a grenade thrown by hand rather than fired through a grenade launcher and it contains an irritant used in riot control operations identified as CS gas.

Given the extent of U.S. military support around the world, the suppression of global uprisings using U.S.-made munitions is likely to be far greater than is represented by these stories and has continued despite controversy over the practice.  In fact, recent protests in Egypt indicate that government forces are still using the same U.S. made tear gas projectiles.

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