Around the world in tear gas: Protests stifled in 2014

August 14, 2014 1:13PM ET

With social media comparing Ferguson to scenes in Middle East, we present visual typology of year's incidents thus far

Topics:
International
U.S.
Flashpoint Ferguson

As a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, seethes with anger after the murder of an unarmed black teenager over the weekend, images of demonstrations are reminiscent of protest zones across the globe. With security forces lobbing tear gas canisters at people to quell unrest, individuals sometimes simply pick up the devices intended for crowd control and throw them back at the riot police.

The images below show similar circumstances in many different locales where political discourse is expressed in street clashes. From anti-occupation rallies in the West Bank and sectarian protests in Bahrain to anti-government agitation in Ukraine and Venezuela, marchers are often eager to turn law enforcement's own techniques against police.

While such photographs may be familiar in unstable Egypt, perhaps they are more shocking emerging from the Midwest of the U.S.

West Bank. A Palestinian protester throws a tear gas canister back towards Israeli police close to the Israel's Ofer military prison in the West Bank town of Betunia on April 4, 2014, during clashes after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas rejected appeals from US Secretary of State John Kerry to halt applications to join international treaties to salvage peace talks with Israel.
Abbas Momani / AFP / Getty Images
Bahrain. A Bahraini protestor throws a tear gas canister back at riot police during clashes following a protest condemning the deaths of Ahmed Al-Mosajen and Ali Abbas, in the village of Al-Maqsha, west of Manama, on April 25, 2014. The two men were killed on April 19, when their car exploded in a Shiite village in Bahrain.
Mohammed Al-Shaikh / AFP / Getty Images
Egypt. A bystander throws a tear gas canister back at the al-Azhar University campus after the canister was originally shot by the Egyptian security forces towards protesters at the school in Cairo, Egypt, May 2, 2014.
Mohammed Abu Zaid / AP
Turkey. A protester throws a gas canister back to riot police during clashes in Kadikoy, on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, on March 11, 2014. Turkish riot police fired tear gas on March 11 at protesters massed outside a hospital after the death of a teenage boy wounded during anti-government protests last year and left comatose.
Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images
Venezuela. A demonstrator throws projectiles at riot policemen during an anti-government protest in eastern Caracas on February 27, 2014.
Juan Barreto / AFP / Getty Images
Guatemala. An opponent of the Tambor mining project throws back a tear gas canister that the riot police had fired while evicting protesters against the mining project in the community of La Puya in San José del Golfo on May 23, 2014.
Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters / Landov
Ukraine. A protester throws a stone during a clash with the police in the centre of the Ukrainian capital Kiev on January 20, 2014, after 200,000 turned up for an opposition rally in a show of defiance against strict new curbs on protests.
Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty Images
United States. A protester throws back a smoke bomb while clashing with police in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, 18, by a police officer.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters