POLICE GET TOOLED UP
As the propaganda wars hot up over the G8 Summit news just in that the police will be armed with Tasers. As the Scotsman reports: "The weapons, which fire electric wires from compressed nitrogen cartridges and deliver 50,000-volt shocks to their targets, are to be used in the event of "serious disorder" during the conference at Gleneagles Hotel or if street protests in the likes of Edinburgh turn violent, as they have at past G8 events." Actually it was the Italian secret police who have been put on trial for violently attacking innocent people, but never the Scotmsan never lets the fact get in the way of a good story. The police move comes despite a report by Amnesty International published last month, there have been 104 Taser-related deaths in the US and Canada since June 2001. Amnesty has documented cases of Tasers, made by the US weapons manufacturer Taser International, being used against unruly schoolchildren, pregnant women (one of whom subsequently lost her baby), a 71-year old partially-sighted woman and a girl of nine who was already handcuffed. More than 5,000 US law enforcement agencies are currently deploying the hand-held electronic stun-guns that fire two barbed darts, which remain attached to the gun by wires, up to a distance of 21ft. The fish-hook-like darts are designed to penetrate up to two inches of the target's clothing or skin and deliver a high-voltage, low amperage, electric shock along insulated copper wires. However, Steve Ballinger, of Amnesty International, said: "Tasers are potentially lethal and inherently open to abuse because they leave no visible marks. There should be an open and independent inquiry into their safety and effects, and tight controls on their use - not a move towards wider deployment. "The use of stun technology in law enforcement raises a number of concerns for the protection of human rights. Although US law enforcement agencies stress that training and in-built product safeguards minimise the potential for abuse, Amnesty International believes these safeguards do not go far enough. "There is also evidence to suggest that, far from being used to avoid lethal force, many US police agencies are deploying Tasers as a routine force option to subdue non-compliant or disturbed individuals who do not pose a serious danger to themselves or others. They have even been used against unruly schoolchildren, unarmed, mentally disturbed or intoxicated individuals, suspects fleeing minor crime scenes and people who argue with police or fail to comply immediately with a command." Our photo shows Tasers being used in an offensive way against protesters at the Social Forum in Geneva.
