More than 1,800 rounds of tear gas have been fired in Hong Kong since June. The CS gas does nothing to deter protesters (frontliners all wear protective gear and stand their ground) but it is badly affecting nearby residents in this densely populated city.https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3024258/one-year-old-girls-birthday-celebration-hong-kong-ends …
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Since CS is a solid dispersion in air, residue can get on clothes and skin, where it can stay for hours. Little kids may not know not to rub their eyes, or be unable to control themselves. Last night I watched HK cops fire at least 40 tear gas rounds into a crowd who didn't budge
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Since the only legitimate purpose of tear gas is to scatter crowds, once it stops being effective for that purpose, there is no reason to use it. The Hong Kong police are firing it in ways that I believe are strictly punitive (including directly at people, and in confined spaces)
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My own experience with tear gas: I set an East Asian land speed record the first time I encountered it; realized while fleeing that the protective equipment works the second time I encountered it, and thereafter found it only a nuisance. But it wafts up into people's apartments
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The way that tear gas is self-limiting is actually kind of helpful. It works great once or twice. After that, it's a good time for the police to stop and ask political leaders to reflect on why they need a long-term strategy for crowd dispersal.
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We know very little about the long-term effects of chronic tear gas exposure on children for the good reason that most governments choose not to tear gas places where kids are around. But Hong Kong police are running the experiment
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