Pepper Spray Used at G20 Summit

The G20 economic summit is an important political event, and as such, it always attracts protestors. This year there have been a large number of protestors and at least one large protest march. One of these gatherings included more than 500 people protesting the summit, and those protestors began clashing with the police who were trying to keep the situation under control. The protest kept growing until it was the largest of all of this year’s G20 protests.

Among the problems with the protest were the many broken windows that resulted from the protest march. Business windows were being smashed as the situation deteriorated out of control. Police lines were set up in order to stop the protestors. Police also closed streets in order to separate the larger group into several smaller groups of protestors.

The protestors began turning over dumpsters as well as throwing rocks toward the police lines, making it necessary for police officers to try and stop the protest with pepper spray and other weapons. The pepper spray was sprayed toward the crowd in an attempt to disperse the gathering and to keep protestors from physically clashing with police. Because pepper spray is non-lethal and causes no long-term health effects, it is ideal for being used in situations in which lethal force is not warranted. And because pepper spray can be used from several feet away and it doesn’t have to be sprayed with great accuracy, it’s use by police when there is a crowd out of control has proven time and time again to be successful.

Of the many protests that took place, not all were violent, but in the instances when violence occurred, pepper spray proved to be an efficient tool for police. The pepper spray helped to disperse the crowd and many of the protestors were arrested.