Police detonated a ‘stinger’ grenade at a Melbourne protest. Now two activists may sue over their injuries | Australian police and policing

Scout* barely noticed something round and hard falling in front of them, billowing smoke before it exploded.

The pain suddenly spread to his legs and arms. Scout fell to her knees before someone nearby helped them out of the area.

“My ears were ringing, my eyes were confused by the flash,” Scout told Guardian Australia.

“The explosion of the bomb in the war zone was like in the movies.

“I was really in shock for a while, it was hard to walk on my leg and I could feel a burning sensation but the adrenaline…basically kicked in.”

Footage from a protest in Melbourne last month shows a Victoria police officer detonating a munition known as a “stun grenade” where the Scout was standing.

In the footage, a member of the Public Order Response Team (Port) can be seen running away from behind a line of officers who were engaging in a confrontation with protesters.

The Port member then moves forward, crouches down, and throws the grenade towards the protesters with an underarm throw. He crashes into the umbrella he was using to prevent a protester from being sprayed with oleoresin capsicum (OC) foam and falls onto the road. For about a second it seems to either go unnoticed or be ignored.

Then it explodes.

The Stinger bomb was designed as a crowd control device. It makes a loud noise, creates a blinding light, and fires rubber bullets.

Some versions of the grenade can also deliver chemical agents or OC spray, according to the manufacturer, but it is unclear which model is used by Victoria police.

It is one of the “less lethal” options adopted by police for use at protests over the past five years, although such weapons have been linked to a number of serious injuries and even deaths. Including a woman in France who researchers found lost an eye due to a needle grenade.

The use of Stinger grenades by police has led to legal action by protesters, including in the US, after they were used at Black Lives Matter rallies.

‘Bad day for Melbourne’

Later that day at the hospital, Scout noticed burns on her knees and groin, even though they were wearing trousers. What felt like hot metal had punched holes directly into it. He also had burns on his right wrist.

Over the next three days, these burns were surrounded by bruises the color of overripe bananas. Scout said that an x-ray was taken out of concern that shrapnel might have penetrated the skin.

While Scout was in hospital, Supt Wayne Cheesman was slamming the behavior of counter-protesters in the city that day; This includes those who allegedly threw stones at police officers. He said a group repeatedly violently assaulted his officers, many of whom were injured, and that police later released photos of people wanted for questioning, none of whom included Scout.

He also said police had not reported any injuries to protesters.

But Cheesman confirmed that police also used two stinger grenades and four flash-bang devices, as well as rubber bullets and VKS Pepperball guns, which are pepper spray pellets fired from a semi-automatic “launcher.”

“We don’t want to be in that situation when we use these things, it’s a bad day, it’s a bad day for Victoria police, it’s a bad day for Melbourne, it’s a bad day for our community,” Cheesman said.

“But I also don’t think our members should be targets for those who want to harm us.”

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Scout said that they did not use violence against the police and that they were standing with a group, including media photographers, when the explosion occurred. They are one of two people considering legal action against police over injuries sustained in the October 19 explosion at the intersection of Spring and Little Bourke streets.

The footage shows that neither Scout nor the other person who was considering legal action resisted the police when they were injured.

Guardian Australia also spoke to a photographer who did not know the pair but was nearby when the grenade exploded. Police gave no warning or any indication that the device would be used before it exploded, the official said. No such warning is heard in the images.

The photographer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the nature of his job, confirmed that he, too, felt the remnants of the explosion but did not require medical attention.

Neil Corney, a researcher at the Omega Research Foundation, a UK-based organization that analyzes military, security and police technologies, reviewed footage of the explosion.

While the type of needle grenade used is unclear, he says plastic pellet launchers are inherently dangerous and there have been calls for them to be banned. He says the head, arm and body of the grenade could cause serious injury if “thrown” with enough energy.

“The fragments are expelled in a completely random pattern, and so it is impossible to reduce the risk of hitting a vulnerable part of the body,” says Corney.

He said he believed the use of OC spray by other officers at the scene was successful in mobilizing some protesters. The Scout was not the target of the spray.

“The officer throws it under his arm, but it comes out of his hand into the air, it doesn’t roll on the ground,” Corney says. “This is dangerous at such a short distance because there is a risk of it exploding in the air and when people move it could explode in their faces…

“There is no immediate threat to the officer himself or other officers in the immediate area in this incident.”

‘Indiscriminate’ use of force

The agency’s own guidelines state that when sting grenades, known as crowd control munitions, are used, police “should consider immediate access to medical attention and facilitate this where possible.”

“If any person is injured… the Police Forward Commander should arrange for care or medical attention at the earliest opportunity,” the guidance says.

Scout says there was no such offer on October 19th.

It is understood police believe the device was used compliantly.

Victoria police were asked a number of questions about the incident and the needle grenades, including details about the number of bullets they contained, the intended use of the devices and whether the officer using the device had completed a “use of force” report and a CCM information report “involving human rights matters” in accordance with its guidelines.

“Police do not attend protests for the purpose of using this tactical equipment, but always respond to actions by protesters, whether violence between different groups or towards officers,” a spokesperson said in a response.

“Officers working at protests reported being threatened, hit with objects such as bottles and rocks, grabbed, pushed or held.

“Any violent and destructive behavior in our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the police.”

Jeremy King, of law firm Robinson Gill, who represented Scout and another protester, said the footage showed “how indiscriminate police use of force is and how police almost inevitably use a one-size-fits-all approach to policing protests.”

King says there are legitimate reasons for police to use force at protests, such as when people ignore instructions or resort to violence, but he points to a lack of oversight in determining whether that force is reasonable.

“What is the legal purpose of a stinger grenade, since force should only be used by police to affect something?” he said.

“What are they actually trying to do here? Because it can’t just be stopping people from protesting.”

*Name changed