Tear Gas

Caught in a Riot

We had just walked across the beautiful Berkeley campus of the University of California on a gorgeous spring morning. The campus sparkled in the clear morning air. The year — 1969. My wife and I were visiting my alma mater. She’d never been there, but had heard me talk about it so much that she wanted to see it. We took a morning stroll across campus from the apartment of a friend where we had spent the night.

All seemed peaceful and quiet.

We made our way to the south side of campus. As we neared the street, we could hear shouting.

Bancroft Way borders the south side of campus. As we came out onto it near the main south-side entrance, we noticed a large group of anti-war protesters to our right and a line of police officers with shields to our left. We wanted to visit the shops on Telegraph Avenue which meant crossing Bancroft. To do so, we’d have to go between the two warring groups or take a long detour back through campus.

Just then things started to heat up.

The protesters began throwing rocks and bottles and anything they could get their hands on. The police shot tear gas canisters at the crowd of protesters. The protesters threw some of them back. We stood in the middle. I grabbed my wife’s hand and we dashed across the street.

Half-way across, I saw an elderly man walking with a cane. In the confusion, he stumbled and fell. I ran to help him and got there just as a police officer with a gas mask on arrived and kicked him. “Get up you old fool,” the officer yelled through his gas mask. I wanted to get his badge number and report him, but the tear gas was too strong. My eyes were watering and my nose was running. All I could think of was getting away from it.

My wife and I ducked into an alley and headed south away from Bancroft and the tear gas. A few houses down a young woman beckoned us to come inside. We could hardly refuse. It must have been a hippie commune. There were a couple of mattresses on the floor and a dozen or so people sat on them and on the floor. They gave us wet paper towels to wipe our eyes with. We couldn’t have been more grateful. We dabbed our eyes and blew our noses. After a few minutes we felt better so we thanked them and left.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced tear gas, but the name fits perfectly. One whiff of it and tears start streaming from your eyes, your nose starts running, and you can hardly see. All you want to do is get away from the stuff. If you have encountered it, you know why it’s banned as a chemical weapon in war.

But it’s not banned for use in crowd control. Police forces around the world use it. Why can we use something on our own people but not on an enemy? That just doesn’t make any sense to me. I know first-hand that it is an effective crowd-control tool, but is it humane?

I know that the police have to protect themselves and tear gas provides an effective way of dispersing crowds that get out of hand.

In my view, though, it should only be used as a last resort. I like to think that the police exhaust other measures before they start firing tear gas. Of course, if the crowd is throwing rocks and bottles, I can understand the desire to disperse them before anyone gets hurt.

What are your thoughts?

Have you ever been exposed to tear gas?

I would love to hear from you.