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Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
What are the 'less lethal' weapons used by law enforcement in Los Angeles protests?
FILE PHOTO: The 101 Freeway is reopened and littered with debris from yesterday's protest, including 40mm Flash Bang canisters, after it was closed down yesterday by protesters, after the California National Guard was deployed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a response to protests against federal immigration sweeps, in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Jill Connelly/File Photo What are the 'less lethal' weapons used by law enforcement in Los Angeles protests? WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles began deploying "less lethal" munitions on Sunday as they clashed with crowds protesting federal immigration raids. "Less lethal" or "less-than-lethal" weapons are designed to cause pain and discomfort, normally to disperse hostile crowds, but have caused serious injury and death in the past. Here is a list of the less lethal weapons that have been deployed in Los Angeles in recent days, according to Reuters witnesses and the Los Angeles Police Department. SPONGE ROUNDS Media outlets, and a reporter hit in the leg by a projectile on Sunday, have said LAPD officers have been firing rubber bullets, a metal casing covered in rubber. In fact, the LAPD do not use rubber bullets, the department told Reuters. Instead, the LAPD uses foam rounds, a condensed sponge projectile that resembles a hard Nerf ball. One version, which has a plastic body with a hard foam nose, is fired from a 40mm launcher and usually aimed directly at a target. A second version, fired from a 37mm launcher, disperses five foam baton rounds toward the ground in front of a hostile crowd once an unlawful assembly has been declared, before bouncing up into the crowd. It is not to be fired directly at individuals, the LAPD said. Both are designed to cause pain on impact without penetrating the skin. Police are forbidden from aiming sponge rounds at the head, neck, groin, and spine. BEAN BAG ROUNDS Bean bag rounds are normally 37mm cloth bags filled with 1.4 oz of lead or rubber pellets. They are fired from shotguns and spread out as they fly toward the intended target. They are designed not to penetrate the skin but to cause an impact hard enough to render a target temporarily immobile. FLASH BANGS Flash bangs, otherwise known as "distraction devices" or "noise flash diversionary devices," produce an ear-piercing bang and bright light to disorient targets by temporarily disrupting their sight and hearing. They are often used to target protesters who have become violent in a section of a crowd, and also to allow police to enter a section of a crowd to extract offenders. One type of flash bang device that has been used in Los Angeles is the 40mm aerial flash bang. These are launched into the air and ignite above the heads of protesters. TEAR GAS Tear gas, one of the most common riot control tools, is designed to temporarily incapacitate people by causing excessive irritation to the eyes, nose, lungs, and skin. It can cause temporary blindness, streaming eyes and nose, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. Tear gas canisters usually contain CS gas, a chemical compound, or OC gas, which stands for oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray. PEPPER SPRAY Pepper spray, which has similar impacts as tear gas, is sprayed from a handheld canister and is often used when police come into close quarters with rioters or are engaged in hand-to-hand encounters. It mainly irritates the eyes, causing temporary blindness. PEPPER BALLS Pepper balls mirror the effects of pepper spray, but are delivered in a projectile similar to a paintball. On impact, it bursts open, releasing powdered OC into the air. Police often do not fire pepper balls directly at a person, but at street signs, onto buildings or into the ground to cause them to burst open. BATON Known as the oldest less lethal weapon, the baton has been used for crowd control for decades. Police officers have been using batons to push and strike protesters in recent days. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Factbox-What are the 'less lethal' weapons used by law enforcement in Los Angeles protests?
FILE PHOTO: The 101 Freeway is reopened and littered with debris from yesterday's protest, including 40mm Flash Bang canisters, after it was closed down yesterday by protesters, after the California National Guard was deployed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a response to protests against federal immigration sweeps, in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Jill Connelly/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles began deploying "less lethal" munitions on Sunday as they clashed with crowds protesting federal immigration raids. "Less lethal" or "less-than-lethal" weapons are designed to cause pain and discomfort, normally to disperse hostile crowds, but have caused serious injury and death in the past. Here is a list of the less lethal weapons that have been deployed in Los Angeles in recent days, according to Reuters witnesses and the Los Angeles Police Department. SPONGE ROUNDS Media outlets, and a reporter hit in the leg by a projectile on Sunday, have said LAPD officers have been firing rubber bullets, a metal casing covered in rubber. In fact, the LAPD do not use rubber bullets, the department told Reuters. Instead, the LAPD uses foam rounds, a condensed sponge projectile that resembles a hard Nerf ball. One version, which has a plastic body with a hard foam nose, is fired from a 40mm launcher and usually aimed directly at a target. A second version, fired from a 37mm launcher, disperses five foam baton rounds toward the ground in front of a hostile crowd once an unlawful assembly has been declared, before bouncing up into the crowd. It is not to be fired directly at individuals, the LAPD said. Both are designed to cause pain on impact without penetrating the skin. Police are forbidden from aiming sponge rounds at the head, neck, groin, and spine. BEAN BAG ROUNDS Bean bag rounds are normally 37mm cloth bags filled with 1.4 oz of lead or rubber pellets. They are fired from shotguns and spread out as they fly toward the intended target. They are designed not to penetrate the skin but to cause an impact hard enough to render a target temporarily immobile. FLASH BANGS Flash bangs, otherwise known as "distraction devices" or "noise flash diversionary devices," produce an ear-piercing bang and bright light to disorient targets by temporarily disrupting their sight and hearing. They are often used to target protesters who have become violent in a section of a crowd, and also to allow police to enter a section of a crowd to extract offenders. One type of flash bang device that has been used in Los Angeles is the 40mm aerial flash bang. These are launched into the air and ignite above the heads of protesters. TEAR GAS Tear gas, one of the most common riot control tools, is designed to temporarily incapacitate people by causing excessive irritation to the eyes, nose, lungs, and skin. It can cause temporary blindness, streaming eyes and nose, coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing. Tear gas canisters usually contain CS gas, a chemical compound, or OC gas, which stands for oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray. PEPPER SPRAY Pepper spray, which has similar impacts as tear gas, is sprayed from a handheld canister and is often used when police come into close quarters with rioters or are engaged in hand-to-hand encounters. It mainly irritates the eyes, causing temporary blindness. PEPPER BALLS Pepper balls mirror the effects of pepper spray, but are delivered in a projectile similar to a paintball. On impact, it bursts open, releasing powdered OC into the air. Police often do not fire pepper balls directly at a person, but at street signs, onto buildings or into the ground to cause them to burst open. BATON Known as the oldest less lethal weapon, the baton has been used for crowd control for decades. Police officers have been using batons to push and strike protesters in recent days. (Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington, editing by Ross Colvin and Rod Nickel)
3 days ago
- Politics
National Guard is armed but no bullets in chamber
APPLENEWS - STORY ADD LA immigration protests live updates: 700 Marines deployed to Los Angeles They're expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed. By Jack Moore, , Kevin Shalvey and Leah Sarnoff June 9, 2025, 4:27 PM ET 700 Marines in California ordered to assist in Los Angeles Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they're expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official Tensions are escalating in Los Angeles as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement grip the city, with demonstrators clashing with law enforcement and setting vehicles on fire downtown. President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen to "address the lawlessness," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the administration to rescind the deployment, saying Trump is trying "to manufacture a crisis" and that the president is "hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control." 0 Jun 09, 4:27 PM EDT Trump says Newsom should 'be happy' he sent in National Guard President Donald Trump is defending his decision to send the National Guard into Los Angeles and said California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be "happy." "He should only be happy I sent in the military, because if I didn't send them and you would've had a problem, they're the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time," Trump said at a roundtable Monday. President Donald Trump speaks during an Invest America Roundtable in the State Dining room, at the White House, in Washington, June 9, implied that the situation in LA is improving. "It's lucky for the people in Los Angeles and in California that we did what we did. We got it just in time," Trump said. "It's still simmering a little bit, but not very much." In 2020, Trump said at an ABC News town hall that "we can't call in the National Guard" to cities "unless we're requested by a governor." Trump's comments came after he sought to respond to racial justice demonstrations in cities in the summer of 2020. "I can call insurrection but there's no reason to ever do that," Trump said at the time. On Monday, when asked by ABC News what's changed since 2020, Trump said that the National Guard shouldn't be sent in without approval from local officials but the difference is that California has an "incompetent governor." "He's destroying one of our great states. And if I didn't get involved, if we didn't bring the guard -- and we would bring more in if we needed it -- because we have to make sure there's going to be law and order," Trump said. The 101 Freeway is reopened and littered with debris including a 40mm Flash Bang canister, after it was closed down Sunday by protesters in Los Angeles, June 9, 2025. Jill Connelly/Reuters -ABC News' Michelle Stoddart, Ben Siegel and Karen Travers The National Guardsmen on active duty in Los Angeles are carrying weapons but don't have rounds in the chamber, and they aren't using rubber bullets or pepper spray, according to a U.S. official. Members of the California national guard stand in tear gas while trying to clear protesters at the metropolitan detention center in downtown Los Angeles, June 8, Hong/AP The Rules of Force that they are operating under call for them to de-escalate any incidents as much as possible, two U.S. officials said. They also have the right to self-defense. -ABC News' Luis Martinez Jun 09, 4:07 PM EDT 700 Marines deployed to Los Angeles Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they're expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed. The Marines are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, whom U.S. Northern Command had said Sunday were on a "prepared to deploy status" if the Defense Department needed them. Minutes before the Marines' deployment was confirmed, President Donald Trump was asked by ABC News if he planned on sending Marines to LA, and he said, "We'll see what happens." "I mean, I think we have it very well under control," Trump said. "I think it would have been a very bad situation. It was heading in the wrong direction. It's now heading in the right direction." -ABC News' Luis Martinez and Karen Travers Jun 09, 3:46 PM EDT Trump says if protesters spit at National Guardsmen 'they will be hit' President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that if protesters spit in the faces of National Guardsmen in Los Angeles, they'll "be hit harder than they have ever been hit before." "IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT," Trump wrote. "Such disrespect will not be tolerated!" A California National Guard vehicle drives down a street in downtown Los Angeles, June 9, Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images "The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it's just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration," Trump said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in response to Trump's post, "You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep." The guardsmen are "forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another," Newsom wrote on social media. "If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you @realDonaldTrump." -ABC News' Michelle Stoddart Next Last
