2. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL2. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT TREATMENT IN NON-CUSTODIAL IN NON-CUSTODIAL SETTINGS SETTINGS 2.1 THE POLICING OF PUBLIC PROTEST Over the last decade there has been a significant number of public protests across the world. People from all walks of life have poured onto the streets to demonstrate against corruption, poor governance, repressive laws, abusive policing, racial discrimination, rises in the cost of living and environmental degradation, among other issues. In many instances, far from facilitating the right to peaceful assembly, security forces have used chemical irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray, kinetic impact projectiles – often called “rubber bullets” – and batons to clear the streets. In some cases, the conduct of law enforcement officials could be said to amount to torture or other ill-treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened risks in the policing of public assembly. The use of chemical irritants, such as tear gas and pepper spray, can provoke heavy coughing or streaming eyes and nose, risking complications for COVID-19-infected people as well as potentially increasing the risk of spreading the disease, though systematic studies into these issues are lacking. The COVID-19 pandemic could also result in changes to police tactics, including greater use and abuse of stand-off “less lethal” weapons such as kinetic impact projectiles and tasers. 2.1.1 CHEMICAL IRRITANTS In a major study documenting the misuse of tear gas published in June 2020, Amnesty International verified close to 500 videos of around 80 events in 22 countries and territories where tear gas has been misused.28 These incidents included cases of security forces firing canisters through the windscreen of a car, inside a school bus and in hospitals, residential buildings, metro stations and shopping centres. The UN Committee Against Torture has stated that use of tear gas in confined spaces is unacceptable.29 ABUSIVE USE OF TEAR GAS OR PEPPER SPRAY On 1 June 2020, in central Philadelphia in the USA, state and city police used large amounts of tear gas and pepper spray to remove dozens of peaceful protesters from the Vine Street Expressway. One affected protester, Lizzie Horne, a Rabbinical student, told Amnesty International: “They started gassing in a kettle formation – we were against a big fence that people had to jump over up a steep hill. 28 Amnesty International, Tear gas: an investigation, teargas.amnesty.org/#top 29 See Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the second and third periodic reports of Bahrain, 29 May 2017, CAT/C/ BHR/CO/2-3 at paras 24-25, https://undocs.org/en/CAT/C/BHR/CO/2-3 ENDING THE TORTURE TRADE THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation 15