we are going through a very authoritarian drift right now. Flashballs used to be exclusively used against terrorists, hostage situations : 19 000 were fired during the yellow jjackets crisis and they’re now basic police equipment. Drone usage is increasing, the government bought 90 armored personnel carriers with multiple grenade launchers exclusively for riot control… and now the phone spying.
edited to add : they’re also starting to qualify any protesters as “terrorists”. Climate activists planning to disassemble an inanimate, illegally-built, ecocidal infrastructure ? they get the eco-terrorist tag.
we are going through a very authoritarian drift right now. Flashballs used to be exclusively used against terrorists, hostage situations : 19 000 were fired during the yellow jjackets crisis and they’re now basic police equipment. Drone usage is increasing, the government bought 90 armored personnel carriers with multiple grenade launchers exclusively for riot control… and now the phone spying.
edited to add : they’re also starting to qualify any protesters as “terrorists”. Climate activists planning to disassemble an inanimate, illegally-built, ecocidal infrastructure ? they get the eco-terrorist tag.