Explain Health Effects Of Tear Gas: Rights Groups

Human rights groups have criticised the police over their "indiscriminate" use of tear gas, and asked the force to explain whether exposure to the gas poses a risk to public health.

They said on Tuesday that overseas literature has shown that too much exposure to the gas can cause cancer.

The groups also said that police have been using tear gas indiscriminately and officers should have started with a lower level of force when dispersing protesters, instead of using gas and rubber bullets from the word go.

The rights groups – Amnesty International, Human Rights Monitor and Civil Rights Observer – said that in many instances, the use of tear gas and rubber bullets could have been avoided.

Many times the public and journalists were targeted, they said, citing the case of one reporter being hit on the head by a canister in Sham Shui Po. Onlookers and civilians with no intention of charging at the police have been badly affected by tear gas, they said.

Icarus Wong, a co-founder of Civil Rights Observer, also urged the police not to deploy weapons such as water cannons and sonic cannons as the public have little knowledge about their effects.

Human Rights Monitor, meanwhile, pointed out that for weeks, riot police have been allowed to carry out their duties without properly displaying their warrant cards or officer numbers.

The group said police officers are the only ones legally allowed to use force, and they should be held accountable for what they do at all times.