Riot Control

by Anthony Deane-Drummond

144 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 1975

Reviews

[Pinkster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Influential and corrupt people like Deane-Drummond managed to do an incredible amount of harm to an enormous number of people across the globe whilst also negatively affecting one of the most important mechanisms of democracy, the right to protest. While the right to protest may not be enshrined in many rights bills, it is nevertheless part of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.

Men like Deane-Drummond and Rex Applegate, who didn't put much value on democracy and human rights to beging with, ended up influencing legislations and justifying excessive police force and use of tear gas against peaceful protestors in the UK, US and former British colonies while being on the payroll of riot-control companies like Schermuly - companies that would benefit directly from stifling legitimate non-violent public protest.

To quote from Anna Feigenbaum's "Tear Gas": "By poisoning the air, tear gas makes speaking out, together, in public, impossible. It seeps into your skin, chokes our throats, burns our nasal cavities, stings our eyes shut and stops our breath. This happens no matter how hard or soft or fast or slowly it is dispersed and, that is precisely what this weapon was designed to do."

Deane-Drummond was one of the poster boys of the companies gaining directly from selling tear gas to police forces across the world. From this point of view, we was far from a hero and very much a villain.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book written by a true hero. Major Drummond of the 1st Airborne Signals was awarded the DSO and Military Cross. He fought at Arnhem and despite twice being held as a POW he managed to escape and remain at large hiding with the Dutch resistance until he could return home to fight again. He later joined the SAS and derved in Malaysia.