indiscriminate, and therefore carry the risk of affecting innocent bystanders or groups which are particularly be excessive or inconsistent with police guidelines. In 2015, for example, military police in Sao Paulo fired tear at risk from the effects of chemical irritants such as the elderly, children, pregnant women or people with gas at a crowd protesting increases in public transport fares within a metro station. According to reports, the respiratory problems. Finally, the use of launched projectiles containing chemical irritants carries the added risk use of tear gas within a confined space was contrary to police guidelines and caused panic among protestors of causing penetration wounds, concussion, other head injuries, and even death, if they hit a person directly. and members of the station staff to become sick15. The use of chemical irritants has also been regularly reported during cultural events, such as music concerts. During a show by the rapper BNegão in Mato Grosso do Sul, in July 2019, the singer announced on stage that two of his producers had been assaulted by police the previous day. Following this announcement, the concert was reportedly abruptly interrupted by police officers who used pepper spray to disperse the audience16. Such abusive use of chemical irritants was again evident during the 2020 Brazilian Carnival when there were reports of several incidents of chemical irritants being used to end peaceful gatherings in Rondonia17 and Rio de Janeiro18. The use of chemical irritants to disperse peaceful gatherings and cultural events is contrary to use of force principles and provides further evidence of a growing trend of Brazilian police using chemical irritants not as an option of last resort, but as a “preventative” measure. 2.2 Electric Shock Weapons Electric shock weapons emit an electric charge with the aim of incapacitating an individual or ensuring compliance through pain and the loss of muscle control. These weapons come in a variety of forms, but those used by law enforcement in Brazil can broadly be divided into two categories, projectile and direct contact19. Projectile electric shock weapons20 fire darts or probes up to a distance of several meters. The darts, which are connected to a launch device by wires, attach to a person’s body, delivering an incapacitating electric shock ▲ "#OcupaBrasilia - 24/05/2017 - Brasilia (DF)" by midianinja is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Recently, UN, regional and national monitoring bodies have all raised concerns about the use of chemical irritants in Brazil, both as a means of crowd control and in places of detention. In 2017, for example, the Brazilian National Mechanism to Prevent and Combat Torture – Mecanismo Nacional de Prevenção e Combate à Tortura (MNPCT) reported that the use of pepper spray in places of detention in Mato Grosso state had become ‘naturalised’ with inmates reported to have been awakened at night with ‘spray nozzles inside their cells’13. On this issue, the United Nations Subcommittee on Torture Prevention (SPT) stated in its report on a visit to Brazil, that it has ‘serious reservations about the use of irritant gases in confined spaces, as it may entail health risks and cause unnecessary suffering’14. The use of chemical irritants to police public assemblies has become increasingly widespread in Brazil since the demonstrations that occurred throughout the country in 2013 and the protests during the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, it has become common for law enforcement officials to use tear gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds, regardless of the nature of the gathering or the use or threat of violence by participants. In many instances, police use of chemical irritants has been shown to 10  that causes the subject to lose muscle control. The effects of projectile electric shock weapons vary depending on the power of the device, the duration of the shock delivered, the physical condition and underlying health of the person targeted as well as environmental factors, such as moisture on the target’s skin. The capacity of projectile electric shock weapons to incapacitate targets at a distance without recourse to lethal force means that their use can be considered legitimate in limited and extreme circumstances. Nevertheless, the powerful nature of the electrical charges delivered by the weapons means that they are prone to abuse and can cause serious health effects such as cardiac arrest, or even death. Furthermore, the temporary loss of muscle control can cause the target to collapse without being able to protect themselves, leading to secondary injuries which can themselves be severe or life-threatening21. It is essential that projectile electric shock weapons are used in accordance with international standards on use of force. The UN Committee Against Torture has recommended that “the use of electrical discharge weapons is strictly compliant with the principles of necessity, subsidiarity, proportionality, advance warning (where feasible) and precaution”22. The Committee previously recommended that “electrical discharge weapons are used exclusively in extreme and limited situations – where there is a real and immediate threat to life or risk of serious injury – as a substitute for lethal weapons and by trained law enforcement personnel only”.23 11