40 • Did law enforcement officers take aim, or did they fire indiscriminately? • Were the kinetic impact rounds used to target individuals engaging in violent behaviour or were they fired indiscriminately into the gathering? • Where were those affected hit by the projectiles (e.g., in the legs, upper body, face)? Did projectiles impact directly, or were they rebounded off the ground (i.e., skip-fired)? • At what range were the projectiles fired? Were any fired from an elevated position? • Were warnings given before the use of the kinetic impact rounds? How far in advance of the use were the warnings issued? • What other tactics were used by the law enforcement officers before using kinetic impact rounds? • Was medical help provided (by the police, medical service) to those affected by the kinetic impact rounds? Illustrative examples of health and human rights implications Human rights and media organisations reported that police in one OSCE participating State used excessive force against protests that began in 2018. There were numerous serious injuries, particularly head injuries, reportedly caused by launched kinetic impact projectiles, and at least 10 people were blinded in one eye. There were reports of multiple journalists suffering injuries as a result of being hit with such projectiles, as well as with rubber ball grenades (often called “sting-ball” grenades – hand-thrown grenades that release many small rubber balls upon detonation and can also contain a chemical irritant charge). Force was also used against school children protesting outside suburban schools in 2018. A teacher at a high school stated that a student’s cheek had “burst open like a split pomegranate” when he was struck with a kinetic impact projectile while talking to friends and posing no threat. Amnesty International reported on the excessive force used by law enforcement officials during the protests in one OSCE participating State in 2017. Amnesty International observers were present during one incident where protesters sat on the street with their arms raised to prevent the passage of police vehicles. When police dispersed the protesters Amnesty observers saw them fire kinetic impact projectiles at protesters, many of whom were not engaged in any violence, from close range. One protester, who claims to have started running away when police began dispersing protesters, was hit in the face with a rubber ball projectile. As a result, he permanently lost his vision in one eye and several bones in his face were broken by the impact of the projectile.