Use of tear gas a 'good public relations move' for police forces, says expert
Tear gas makes anything that looks peaceful 'look more like a riot'
Tear gas is not only a cheap way for police forces to control a crowd, it's also a good public relations move, according to a professor who has researched the use of the substance.
"Because it causes people to flee, because you have to leave that space, anything that looks peaceful will look more like a riot," said Anna Feigenbaum, the author of Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today.
"Anything that looks calm and collected will look like something chaotic, and that shift in images that the media then covers makes it look like the police are justified in their use of control," she told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
U.S. authorities fired tear gas into Mexico on Sunday to repel Central American migrants approaching the border at the San Ysidro port of entry, between San Diego and Tijuana. The migrants were reported to be staging a protest about delays at the border. When some groups broke away and headed for the border fence, the Americans responded with a volley of canisters emitting large clouds of gas, which affected families with small children and babies.
Despite condemnation from groups such as Amnesty International, U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that it was a "a very minor form" of tear gas.
The fact that one officer can use tear gas to clear an entire area makes it spatially effective, Feigenbaum said.
"And because it is less likely to kill and it doesn't leave traces of blood ... it also is then a good public relations move for police officers to use," she added.
To discuss what happened at the border and the history and use of tear gas, Tremonti was joined by:
- Sarah Kinosian, a freelance journalist in Tijuana
- Anna Feigenbaum, tear gas expert and principal academic in digital storytelling in the department of journalism, English and communication at Bournemouth University in Dorset, U.K.
Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full conversation.
Produced by The Current's Alison Masemann, Danielle Carr and Samira Mohyeddin