As many people will have seen, Theresa May is considering the use of water cannons to deal with “rioters” (i.e. protesters) in London. Public opinion on this will probably be under the belief that this just means getting protesters a bit cold and wet so they go home. We must be clear that the use of water cannons is brutal and dangerous, and can result in the following:
This man had his eyes ripped out by a water cannon in the protests in Stuttgart against the construction of the Stuttgart 21 train station. The image is taken from Der Spiegel, and has done the rounds in Germany, but is not well-known here in Britain. It is vitally important that we spread good information on the dangers of water cannon use as quickly as possible. Please link to this post wherever you can, retweet it, link to it on facebook, etc. This way we can build a campaign against this tactic.
UPDATE: Theresa May has said that police will be able to use water cannons on future demonstrations.
http://thethirdestate.net/2010/12/the-truth-about-water-cannons/