Seeing lots of *not great* advice about teargas on my feed! From years experience with US made teargas in Palestine, here's my two cents: don’t put water on your skin or face unless you have a steady stream like a shower. It'll feel good for a sec then burn more than before!!
The reason things like milk/yogurt help is cause they have a cooling effect. Don’t rub your eyes, don’t touch your face. When you’re gassed, the chemicals stay on your skin & clothing and spread to anything you touch. Saline wash your face then cold shower when youre home.
Your clothes will be covered in the teargas chemical and can still burn your skin & eyes days later. If you sit on your couch when you get home you've contaminated your furniture so make sure to throw all your protest clothes in the wash right away.
The best thing you can do with teargas is stay calm. Teargas tricks your brain into thinking it can't breathe so staying calm is key. Strong smells help remind your brain that it can breathe so bring alcohol wipes or alcohol based perfume and put it on the inside of your scarf.
Most dangerous teargas injury is being hit with the canister (when fired out of a gun). Like bullets, they can kill. Unlike bullets, teargas travels slow enough to watch it coming so don’t turn & run when they start firing. Watch them shoot it & dodge. Move calmly upwind.
Have a thick scarf, perfume inside it, that you cover your face & eyes with when you see gas coming. If you can't move upwind without running, instead get on the ground and cover your face with the scarf for minutes until it passes. Running in gas will TAKE YOU OUT.
If they're shooting rubber bullets or sponge batons or anything like that, the speed is somewhere in between live bullets (by the time you hear them, they've already hit) & teargas which you can dodge.
Rubber bullets usually take like 1-2 secs to hit you, depending on distance, so you have time to turn around and cover your eyes/head/neck to protect the most sensitive places. Those medical ice packs help for non critical rubber bullet injuries.
Forgot to say that for ppl who wear contact lenses, some will swear its more dangerous because teargas can get trapped inside your lens or get reactivated when you take them out. I have friends who swear it protects their eyes from teargas tho. Go without them if you're worried.
You can use their teargas against them. If you're comfortable w your threshold for gas (or have a gasmask or goggles/scarf) you can throw it back at them - or just throw upwind of protesters. You only have a few seconds to do this. Wear thick gloves because it will be HOT.
You can put a bucket over the teargas to contain, or kick it upwind of protesters. Fireworks are a fun way to disorient your attackers. Balloons filled with paint & oil are a <gentle> way to take their vehicles off the road cause they'll need soap to wash it off the windshield🙂
If pepper sprayed directly, you need to get to a water stream immediately, at least 3 mins of running cold water. A bit of water will make it burn way worse. Yogurt/milk helps your burning skin after. Don't go in enclosed spaces (like ambulances lol). You need air.
This is based on experience + street medic trainings but I’m not a medical expert! They also modify weapons & their chemical make-up often, so things change. We didn’t have access to obscure materials so there may be other effective sprays/washes if u do your research & pay up🤷🏻♀️
To clarify, you don't need to use milk or yogurt for teargas. Use dry scarf + alcohol/perfume + fresh air + stay calm and breathe slow. Milk can be dangerous in eyes if it has gone bad. I just mentioned milk to explain why water activates the burning but milk feels soothing.
I've started a thread on identifying police weaponry here:
https://twitter.com/rananazzalh/status/1268583829251461122
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