4
protesters were sprayed with water cannon consisting of dyed water. Police were
also found spraying water cannon against protesters from elevated walk paths.
(3) The use of tear gas
The facts appeared that police have not used necessary
and proportionate measures to warn protesters before the use of tear gas. At some
events, police announced the use of tear gas to warn protesters only in the early
stages, and on other occurrence, police just continued using tear gas against
protesters. During some demonstrations, tear gas was found in public housing and
private company buildings. Civilians, not involved in the demonstration, including
children were affected by the smoke and strong smell of tear gas. Moreover, tear
gas was fired at protesters at a low-angle trajectory.
(4) The use of rubber bullets
The facts appeared that many times the police did not
notify protesters of the use of rubber bullet first and in some cases, there was only
the one announcement. It was also found that the angle of shooting by the police
were done in a manner that could cause serious injury, including directing the
weapon at head level and at close range. Demonstrators were not seen carrying
any weapon or committing any act of terrorism, and no thorough examination of
whether the tear gas is directed toward those creating chaos. This has resulted in
in protesters who did not use violence or those who were not involved being injured
both with minor and serious injuries, especially to the head and eyes. Rubber bullets
were also recovered in public housing in the surrounding area.
In summary, as mentioned above, it can be seen that the use of
crowd control equipment has not been in accordance to the practice of police crowd
control as stipulated in the Cabinet Resolution dated 2 5 August 2 0 1 5 and it does
not conform to the guidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Guidance on
Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement which is a violation of human rights.
1.2.2) The use of force to arrest protesters
Investigation revealed that police operation moved fast into
areas to arrest protesters. During most disperse operation protesters were injured
by use of rubber bullets while trying to escape the scene. In some cases, police
drove up in front of the protesters resulting in motorcycles falling to the ground and