How to Deal with Tear Gas

Breathing in tear gas, or getting it in your eyes, is not fun. This, obviously, is the whole point. But there are things you can do to mitigate the effectiveness of tear gas, and allow you to keep on fighting the good fight.

The first thing to remember about tear gas is that it is primarily a fear weapon. Yes, the gas hurts. But the fear caused by tear gas grenades is a much more effective means of crowd dispersal than the gas itself. So rule number one is to calm down.

Tear gas is most often delivered to its target in the form of grenades. These fit onto the end of gas guns and are fired with blank shotgun cartridges. So, when tear gas is being used you will hear gunshots. Don't worry: you're not being shot at.

After you hear a shot, look up. The grenade will be arcing toward its destination trailing white smoke. If the grenade is not headed directly at you, there is no reason to move. So don't move just yet. Warn people that there is a grenade incoming, and figure out where it will land. If it is headed toward you, you may want to prepare to hold your breath by briefly hyperventilating.

The grendade will explode. This usually happens while it is in the air, but not always. Again, this can be scary until you get used to it. After the explosion, a small gas emitter remains. It is metal and about the size of a hockey puck. It will be hissing and spewing out tear gas.

The wind is your friend. Move upwind of the gas. This will blow the majority of the gas away from you. Do not panic. Do not run. Panic is precisely what the police are trying to create.

If you have gloves and something to protect your face (which I'll talk about soon), you can pick up the gas emitter and lob it back at the police. This is a considerate thing to do to protect your fellow protesters. The emitter will be hot, so gloves are recommended. Remember, the police are thoroughly protected against gas; throwing it back at them is not a violent act.

WARNING:Picking up the gas emitter will ensure that your clothing is saturated with tear gas. This is extremely unpleasant and will require very thorough laundering with harsh detergent. Prevent contact between gassy clothes and your face, as the chemical agents are active even days later.

WARNING:Do not pick up a grenade which has not exploded. You can be injured if/when it goes off in your hand. Some are, of course, duds. But it is not safe to assume that unexploded grenade at your feet is a dud.

Assuming you don't have a gas mask (which is essential for prolonged operation in a tear-gassy environment), a bandanna or other cloth which has been soaked in vinegar or lemon juice will allow you to breathe long enough to escape the gas. Mask up! Cider vinegar is less harsh-smelling and is recommended. Breathing in vinegar is not pleasant, but compared to tear gas it's like fresh air. Unfortunately, the vinegar's protective effect does not last long (minutes), and your bandanna will be saturated with gas afterward. So bring several. Retying a gassy bandanna around your face is not a good idea. Make sure the bandanna fits tightly around your nose and mouth.

You must wear goggles. Goggles which are air tight. It is one thing to have severe upper respiratory pain. It is another to have that and also have burning, watering eyes.

Two important notes here (and thanks to cbustapeck for reminding me): Firstly DO NOT wear contact lenses to any event where there is even a possibility of tear gas usage. The contacts will trap the gas against your eyes which, aside from being hideously painful, will eventually damage your cornea. Secondly, many places have, or have recently enacted, laws against wearing masks. In some southern states these laws were implemented to defeat the Ku Klux Klan; these days they're more likely specifically aimed at dissenters who don't wish to have their faces filed away by the FBI. So, be aware that wearing a gas mask or a bandanna may be, in itself, illegal. Yes, protecting yourself from police violence, even passively, can get you thrown in jail.

My description of what tear gas feels like is this: it feels as if the inside of your head is being dissolved by acid. There is a burning pain and a liquefying feeling as mucous, tears and saliva all begin flowing.

Spit, blow your nose, rinse out your mouth, gargle. If necessary, do an eyewash by squirting water across your eye from the inside to the outside with your head tilted to the side.
WARNING: You should really get a brief training before you do this. Contact your local activist organization. Also, the eyewash procedure for pepper spray is different.

Different people react differently to the gas. I've seen totally unprotected people go up against cops and gas for hours by sheer force of will. However, don't expect that you will be able to. You may be pleasantly surprised, though.

Finally, diffuse tear gas lingers in the air for a long time. Expect eye, nose and throat irritation for several hours after tear gas has been used in an area, especially if the use of gas was extremely liberal (as in Quebec City).

Update: the following is some information I found regarding the toxicity of both CN and CS tear gas. I, personally, only have direct experience with CS.
I removed the footnotes and references to either appendices or illustrations, but otherwise the following is as written in the original document.

CN has always been associated with potential hazards particularly in regard to its effects on skin and eyes, which provided the impetus to find a standard replacement. It was found to be between 3 and 10 times more toxic than CS in rats, rabbits, mice and guinea pigs. It creates more severe damage to the lung with more edema, patchy acute inflammatory cell infiltration of the trachea, bronchi and bronchioles and more evidence of early bronchopneumonia. Very early on it was noted that CN can induce primary irritant dermatitis. In skin tests it was found CS caused no effects below 20 mg, whereas moist CN caused vesication (blistering) in most subjects. It is also a more potent skin sensitizer than CS with several people developing allergic dermatitis. CN has also been associated with longer lasting burning of the cornea and even permanent eye injuries, particularly if the irritant has been propelled into the eye at short range. In higher doses, it is lethal, particularly in enclosed spaces where even one 128g grenade in a 27-cubic-meter room is sufficient to kill.

CS - There is extensive scientific literature on CS, one recent search claims to have found 115,107 articles. Only some of the most salient aspects can be discussed here. Advocates of CS claim that high levels of exposure to CS are precluded because people are adverse to remaining where this agent is present. (QXZ notes that he's seen totally unprotected people subjecting themselves to CS exposure for hours at a time. CS advocates seem to ignore this.) More critical authors have noted the lack of epidemiologic inquiry on its use in actual field conditions.

However, operational usage sometimes means individuals face additional punishment or even death if they seek to leave a contaminated zone. At higher levels of exposure, inhalation toxicology studies indicate CS can cause chemical pneumonitis and fatal pulmonary edema. (Victims die by drowning in their own lung fluids). CS exposure can also lead to reactive airways dysfunction. Oral toxicological studies note the facility of CS to cause sever gastroenteritis with perforation. CS is a primary skin irritant and some individuals will develop contact dermatitis even after what appears to be an unproblematic initial exposure and severe blistering can emerge several hours later. An exposure to even a low concentration of CS raises blood pressure and there is a particular risk of health damage to anyone over 30, under physical strain or having an undetected aneurysm. At higher levels CS has been associated with heart failure, heptacellular (liver) damage and death. One US based CS manufacturer, Federal Laboratories, has warned that "Firing one Federal No. 230 Flite-Rite (tear gas projectile) in a room (eight-feet by eight-feet by seven-feet) could endanger the life of an average subject if he stayed in the room for seven minutes". CS from canisters has also caused acute mass chemical burns.

Excerpted from Crowd Control Technologies - An Assessment of Crowd Control Technology Options for the European Union subtitled An Appraisal of the Technologies of Political Control. It was authored by the OMEGA Foundation out of Manchester, UK, and edited by Graham Chambers.

Arabs, Oh Arabs, Revolt Against America's Tyrants

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By Mohamed Khodr


One down, twenty one to go. The young man who burned himself alive in Tunis, Mohamed Bouazizi, was a university graduate prevented by police from selling fruit and vegetables to make a living. He committed suicide to protest the loss of his humanity under Ben Ali’s tyrannical rule.

His death sparked a revolution in Tunis and awakened the minds and souls of oppressed Arabs across the region who sprang to the street to revolt against their own American owned and run tyrants. Ben Ali was one of America’s favorite brutal Arab tyrants who for decades oppressed his people, denied their humanity, freedoms, and abused at will and whim their human rights. He embezzled billions of the people’s money for himself, his wife, family, and cronies. At the end he could not withstand the power of a spontaneous mass uprising demanding his removal. He escaped like a frightened mouse from the unleashed peaceful wrath of his subjugated subjects.


The light of this young man’s fire has lit a spark across the Arab world where people overcame their fear and apathy to demand their freedom from their American owned and run tyrants. From Algeria to Egypt; from Yemen to Jordan, from Lebanon, Syria, to Palestine, the streets are alive with the sounds of humanity long deprived of their most basic needs: freedoms, jobs, housing, an education, health care, clean water and sewage systems, electricity, and above all safety and security from multiple and brutal security services who only serve to protect the monarchs and military dictators

The Wikileaks papers proved the treasonous inhumane surrender of these tyrants to the will of America, a nation whose foreign policy in turn is surrendered to Israel. America and Israel have massacred millions of Arabs under the pretext of security and war on terrorism. To secure their power Arab tyrants have given a free hand to both imperial powers to commit genocide against those who seek freedom from their oppressive hegemony, occupation, and destruction of lives and property.

Thus these American tyrants have engulfed in whole without any conscience that all who oppose Israel in the region such as Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas, are also a threat to their power. Hence, protecting Israel’s security means protecting their own. Because these entities do not submit and surrender to the imperialism of Israel and America they are called “terrorists”. But murderous dictators who do are “moderate regimes”. That’s why to these tyrants Iran is their primary enemy that must be attacked and bombed, not Israel, that is Judaizing Jerusalem, threatening Al Aqsa mosque with destruction, or massacring Palestinian children who go through the cracks of the Apartheid Wall to go to school.

Now come the “Palestinian Papers” that not only reveal but confirm what Palestinians and Arabs have always known–the Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Balfour Abbas, Saeb Sharon Erakat, Ahmed Ben Gurion Qurei, Mlohammed Zionist Dahlan, and others, have practically conceded Jerusalem and Palestine to the murderous genocidal Zionists. To these thieving traitors Hamas is the enemy, not Israel, that on a daily basis murders their people, including children, demolishes their homes, burns their olive trees, confiscates more land, continuously builds illegal settlements, steals precious water from thirsty masses, and permits settlers to kill at will innocent civilians. These murderers not only knew but supported Israel’s genocide on Gaza that killed 1,500 civilians, including hundreds of children, as well as the deadly four year siege of 1.5 million people. As Saeb Sharon Erakat said: “I hate Hamas.” Yet in none of the documents does he say he hates Israel. Despite all the concessions the Palestinian Authority surrendered to Israel, Israel would slap them in the face with total rejection as it did to President Obama’s “request” to freeze settlements.


Erakat is the worst of these traitors. He is impulsive, thoughtless, willing to sell his family for a few photo ops in the White House. An insecure, weak, and inept man who’s overwhelmed by his sudden fame. Yet all are illiterate, inept, and corrupt in the art of politics, diplomacy, and negotiation. However all do live in palatial villas and possesses several Mercedes cars. Not even the late Arafat surrendered Jerusalem as these thugs have done.

Only the total resignation of these Palestinian leaders and their judicial prosecution can give the Palestinians the dignity and just righteousness of their cause. These traitors have now severed all remaining ties and good will with other Arab tyrants.

So my dear brothers and sisters in the Arab world raise your voices, fill the streets, have courage, and do not stop until every tyrant, monarch or military dictator has been toppled. This is your Islamic and humanitarian duty.

The greatest values in Islam are freedom, democracy, and justice. Always be just for that is a command from God. Islam calls for all affairs amongst people to be settled by democratic consultations. No matter what, protest peacefully to protect the sacredness of lives and people’s property.

“Their affairs are decided after due consultation among themselves”
(Quran: 42:38)

The uniting power and energy for your Jihad is Islam. Unite under its banner and trust in God. Islam must be your weapon of mass demonstration.

Do not relent, do not give up, and do not rest until freedom rings from every mosque, every church, and every home. Bring these tyrants to justice to answer for their crimes against humanity and their theft of national wealth.

The Arab world does have nationalistic patriotic men and women who can be democratically elected to be your leaders. Such as the Noble Laureate Dr. Mohamed El Baradei in Egypt, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Dr. Hanan Ashrawi in Palestine. There are many competent leaders both within the Arab world and living in exile.

Do not ever allow the military back into the political arena. Your leadership must all be civilian and a new constitution must never allow the military to rule but to be under civilian control The military is the most dangerous threat to any democracy. Democratically elected civilian leadership must replace all the Monarchs and Emirs who inherit power.

It is time to free your bodies and minds from the decade’s long scourge of tyranny.

The biggest winner in these revolts will be you and the future of your children.

The biggest loser in these revolts is America, long the protector and savior of these tyrants.
The eventual cutting off of all ties to Israel, boycotting its products and the products of any American or western company that deals or supports Israel, and ending all peace treaties with Israel will be the eventual path of freedom of Jerusalem and Palestine. All American military and intelligence bases in the Arab world must be removed. Islamophobia is rampant in Europe and America yet we offer them cheap oil and our land for their military and intelligence operations against Muslim nations? As the Jews say; “Never Again”.

Despite the Palestinian traitors many nations are recognizing Palestine as a State and upgrading its diplomatic representation to the status of Embassies.

America overthrew and killed Saddam Hussein because he was a tyrant who oppressed his people. How profoundly hypocritical that this land of the “free” supports such tyrants and supports the most racist, tyrannical, and genocidal regime in modern history—Israel.
Arab lives are cheap and expendable to America, Europe, Israel and most of all to Arab tyrants, willing to allow America to bomb at will and wipe out entire villages in the Arab world as long as they can remain on the payroll of the CIA.

Let Freedom ring throughout the Arab world and then learn the word “NO” to America and Israel’s genocidal policy for oil and land.

God be with you. Allah Akbar.

Originally published by Intifada-Palestine.com

Mid-East: Will there be a domino effect? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12204971 In the wake of the ousting of Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, observers have drawn parallels with other countries in the region. There is speculation about a possible domino effect similar to the collapse of Communist governments around Eastern Europe in 1989. In several countries of the Middle East and North Africa, youthful and rapidly growing populations face rising food prices, high unemployment and lack of political representation. Some are also ruled by aging autocrats facing succession issues. Which are the countries involved, and what is the likelihood of real change? Egypt Egypt has many similarities with Tunisia - tough economic conditions, official corruption and little opportunity for its citizens to express their dissatisfaction with the political system. President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has an almost complete monopoly on power, has been in office for three decades and is seeking re-election this autumn. In January, several cases of self-immolation were reported in Egypt, apparent attempts to mimic the actions of the young Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in mid-December and died on 4 January, triggering the unrest which ultimately overthrew President Ben Ali. Then, on 25 January, the deep frustration of ordinary Egyptians spilled over into the streets of Cairo. Protesters - many waving Tunisian as well as Egyptian flags - came out in numbers not seen since the bread riots of the 1970s. Opposition groups issued demands for President Mubarak to resign, and called for an end to poverty, corruption, unemployment and police abuses. Four people died in the clashes, one of them a policeman. The next day, police again used tear gas against thousands of demonstrators in Cairo, and protesters in Suez set fire to a government building. A policeman and a protester were killed, and the interior ministry said 500 people had been arrested. The government also announced that public gatherings would no longer be tolerated. The police have been taken unaware by the size and power of the demonstrations, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo. But change will not come easily in Egypt - the country is about eight times the size of Tunisia, the people are on average less literate and educated, and less internet-savvy. The trade unions are not as powerful, and the powerful security apparatus of Mr Mubarak is well equipped and more experienced at quashing dissent. Yemen There have been several days of protests in Yemen - the Arab world's most impoverished nation, where nearly half of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Youths and opposition groups have taken to the streets of the capital, Sanaa, and the southern city of Aden demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh - in power for nearly 32 years. In an effort to defuse the unrest, Mr Saleh announced on 23 January that he had ordered income tax to be halved and instructed the government to control prices of basic commodities. He also denied allegations that he was planning to hand over power to his son, Ahmed. The government also released 36 people jailed for participating in the unrest, including the prominent human rights activist, Tawakul Karman. But at the same time, the president has increased the salaries of state employees and armed forces personnel - a step apparently meant to ensure their loyalty - and deployed riot police and soldiers in key areas. Algeria As the winter protests escalated in Tunisia, its western neighbour also saw large numbers of young people taking to the streets. As in Tunisia, the trigger appeared to be economic grievances - in particular sharp increases in the price of food. A state of emergency has been in place in Algeria since 1992, and public demonstrations in the capital have been banned. There are regular impromptu protests elsewhere in the country, but in recent weeks these broke out simultaneously across Algeria for the first time, including in the capital, Algiers. There have been reports of self-immolations, too. However, the protests have not escalated in the same way as in Tunisia, something that analysts have attributed to the relatively restrained response of the security forces, as well as the government's intervention to limit price rises. Algeria's government has considerable wealth from the export of oil and gas and is trying to tackle social and economic complaints with a huge public spending programme. But grievances remain, including anger over unemployment, corruption, bureaucracy, and a lack of political reform. Algeria's tumultuous recent history stands in stark contrast to Tunisia's. It had its own opening up of the political system in 1988, resulting in the loosening of restrictions on the media and multi-party elections. This in turn led to a bloody conflict between security forces and Islamist rebels. Libya "There is none better than Zine to govern Tunisia. Tunisia now lives in fear." Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi's sharp reaction on Saturday to the overthrow of President Ben Ali would seem to reflect his own nervousness about a possible domino effect. After 41 years in power, Col Gadaffi is the longest serving ruler in Africa and the Middle East, and also one of the most autocratic. Protest of any kind is strictly prohibited, but even so there were reports of unrest over the weekend in the city of al-Bayda. However, Libya has a much smaller population and huge oil wealth. Jordan Thousands staged protests across Jordan in a "day of rage" on Saturday in protest against rising food prices and unemployment. Some demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai. The government had last week slashed prices on certain foods and fuels, but the protesters say more needs to be done to tackle poverty caused by inflation. But Jordan is run by a royal family, and some sections of society are loyal to the monarchy. King Abdullah II, who acceded to the throne in 1999, himself appears so far to have escaped most of the wrath of the protesters. And so far protests have been peaceful and there have been no arrests. Morocco Like Tunisia, Morocco has been facing economic problems and allegations of corruption in ruling circles. Morocco's reputation was damaged after Wikileaks revealed allegations of increased corruption, in particular the royal family's business affairs and the "appalling greed" of people close to King Mohammed VI. Wikileaks cables from the US embassy in Tunis have cited similar problems in President Ben Ali's inner circle. But Morocco, like Egypt and Algeria, does allow limited freedom of expression and has so far been able to contain protests. Like Jordan it is a monarchy with strong support among sections of the public. Algeria 34.5 27.1 9.9 23 4.7 Egypt 80.5 24 9.6 20 20 Jordan 6.4 21.8 13.4 14.2 1.6 Lebanon 4.09 29.4 na 28 1 Libya 6.4 24.2 30 33 0.35 Morocco 31.6 26.5 9.8 15 13.2 Saudi Arabia 25.7 24.9 10.8 na 9.6 Syria 22.1 21.5 8.3 11.9 4.4 Tunisia 10.5 29.7 14 3.8 3.5 W Bank & Gaza 2.5 20.9 16.5 46 1.3 Yemen 23.4 17.89 35 45.2 2.2 Last but not least ALL those blood-soaked-greasy petrodollar Sheiks which the BBC fails to mention.