FROM THE BATLEFIELD
TO THE STREETS

         From being a chemical weapon banned in wars to be used by law enforcement on the streets against civilians all over the world.

The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of poisonous gases in war.In 1993, tear gas was classified by Chemical Weapons Convention as a chemical weapon and in 1997 it was banned from use in international warfare.

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Tear gas is known as a “riot control agent,” so it is exempts from chemical weapons protocols. It means, it can still be used on streets by domestic police forces, but not by soldiers in a war zone. However, it’s use still has some regulations on when and how to use it, meaning it must be strictly necessary, when other less harmful methods have failed. It shouldn’t be use when it can affect people who is not involved in the protest, and it definitively can’t be use as a lethal weapon – not shooting directly to a person. It is considered a “less lethal” weapon, that it’s not intended to be fatal, but it can, and often does inflict injury, though how severe often depends on how it’s used, and when, and where. 

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Physical reactions to tear gas can range from watering eyes, sneezing, coughing, vomiting to temporary blindness. It remains effective at demoralizing and dispersing crowds, turning the street from a place of protest into toxic chaos. It clogs the air, affecting everyone close by without discriminating.

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For many years, people have fought back. In Latin America, Europe, Asia, whenever you see a protest are taking place, there is always the use of tear gas. Even when human rights experts say the use of tear gas on civilians should be a weapon of last resort, not an everyday occurrence, we still see it on the everyday.

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This series of images were taken in Venezuela, my birth country, when protests erupted against the dictatorship in 2014-2017. They are the reflection of people all over the world. Those who stand up, who resist, who hold their tears back an fight.