to sidestep or evade their obligations49. Participants in a peaceful assembly shall be respected and protected50, including be free from fear51. The scope of protection includes actions of counterprotesters.52 No assembly should be considered unprotected.53 23. While the right of peaceful assembly extends only to ‘peaceful’ assemblies, the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment is applicable even when assemblies are not peaceful. This was a point emphasized in General Comment No. 3754 adopted by the Human Rights Committee and by the Special Rapporteur in his 2017 report, recalling that individuals cannot lose their protection in any circumstances ‘including in the context of violent riots’55. 24. Failing to facilitate and protect assemblies may lead to violations of the right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment, the right to security and the right to life. Firearms are not an appropriate tool for the policing of assemblies and must never be used simply to disperse an assembly.56 Chemical irritants57 and other less-lethal weapons in the context of assemblies should not be used in an indiscriminate manner58. Their widespread use or misuse can result in significant injuries, disability or death.59 25. The State bears a responsibility to provide for first aid and access to emergency medical services at assemblies.60 This is particularly important in contexts where there is a potential for disorder or violence and the police are preparing to deploy with a range of crowd control weapons. Experts at the Thematic Briefing emphasized that law enforcement officials should neither interfere with nor intimidate health personnel, who should have sufficient protection and resources. Assembly monitors, human rights defenders and journalists should not be prevented from observing and recording the policing of assemblies, nor should they be intimidated or sanctioned61. 49. General Assembly, Joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on the proper management of assemblies, 4 February 2016, A/HRC/31/66, para. 9. 50. UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 37, 2019, para 30. 51. “ everyone must be able to express their grievances or aspirations in a peaceful manner, including through public protests, without fear of reprisals or of being intimidated, harassed, injured, sexually assaulted, beaten, arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured, killed or subjected to enforced disappearance” See: Preamble of the UN Human Rights Council, Resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, 11 April 2014, A/HRC/RES/25/38. 52. E  uropean Court of Human Rights, Identoba and Others v Georgia, 12 May 2015. 53. G  eneral Assembly, Joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on the proper management of assemblies, 4 February 2016, A/HRC/31/66, para. 9. 54. “ Where gatherings do not fall within the scope of “peaceful assemblies”, for example if they become violent, they are no longer protected by article 21, but the individuals involved retain their other rights under the Covenant, including those listed above, subject to the applicable restrictions. “See: UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 37, 2019, para. 10. 55. U  N Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 20 July 2017, A/72/178, para. 15. 56. UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 37, 2019, para. 98. 57. “The availability of tear gas can mean police avoid having to resort to the use of more harmful weapons. But in practice police forces use tear gas in ways that it was never intended to be used, often in large quantities against largely peaceful protesters or by firing projectiles directly at people.” See: Amnesty International, Tear Gas: An Investigation, available at: https://teargas.amnesty.org/#how-it-works. 58. Agents who may legitimately make use of force should “apply a standard of differentiated use of force, determining the level of cooperation, resistance, or aggressiveness of the person involved and, on this basis, use tactics of negotiation, control or use of force, as appropriate” See: I/A Court HR: Case of Landaeta Mejías Brothers et al. v. Venezuela. Judgment of August 27, 2014. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Series C No. 281, para. 134; and Case of Nadege Dorzema et al. v. Dominican Republic. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of October 24, 2012 Series C No. 251, para. 85. 59. S  ee: R.J. Haar and V. Iacopino, Lethal in Disguise: The Health Consequences of Crowd-Control Weapons. Network of Civil Liberties Organizations and Physicians for Human Rights, 2016. 60. O  SCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (3rd Edition), 2019, para. 138; Balçık and Others v. Turkey, 29 November 2007, para. 49. 61. O  SCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (3rd Edition), 2019, paras. 213 and 180. 10