“Most of the Member States of the European Union permit their police to use rubber and plastic ammunition. Switzerland and Turkey also use such ammunition. Time and again rubber bullets are used to fire into crowds of people, causing serious injuries. Although prohibited, the police target people’s heads. As a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I am taking the events of this nature that took place in Barcelona as grounds to call for this type of ammunition to be outlawed Europe-wide”, declared Andrej Hunko, Member of the German Bundestag.
According to a situation report produced by the Research Services of the German Bundestag, the only European countries where such ammunition is not used are Romania, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Austria. In Catalonia, too, rubber bullets were banned after they caused serious injuries. As well as rubber or plastic bullets, some countries use hand grenades filled with rubber pellets. France, among other countries, keeps these explosives in its arsenal for the purpose of riot control.
Andrej Hunko went on to say:
“The German federal states of Hesse and Saxony also maintain stocks of rubber bullets. In fact Hesse recently ordered new, large calibre ammunition. This is supposed to be reserved for use by special forces only. But since these militarily trained troops are being deployed to demonstration sites, I fear that the use of rubber or plastic bullets in these situations will increase. A police unit in Saxony fired rubber bullets for the first time at alleged lawbreakers at the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Land Parliament of Saxony recently deployed its special units to an anti-fascist demonstration in Wurzen.
In Germany rubber ammunition is fired from the MZP 1 multipurpose pistol. This is a firearm whose use is in fact strictly regulated, particularly when it is deployed against crowds of people. The regulations include the obligation to issue a warning before the firearm is discharged. At the G20 summit in Hamburg the police disregarded this directive. It is essential for such action to have disciplinary and criminal consequences.”
Download the report of the Research Services of the German Bundestag on rubber ammunition: http://www.andrej-hunko.de/start/download/doc_download/1043-situation-report-on-the-use-of-rubber-ammunition-in-europe