Suspend UK export of tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields to USA
Suspend UK export of tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields to USA
The Issue
The UK cannot support a continuous breach of human rights and supply the USA with tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields that are being used against protestors.
By continuing the sale of these items, the UK is choosing profit over human rights and is unacceptable. Government records show it grants export licences worth millions of pounds for the sale of anti-crowd gas, riot equipment and other small arms to the US – but the government’s own rules say such exports should not go ahead where they are likely to be used for “internal repression”.With multiple journalists also being shot with these weapons, we need to halt the sale of these items to the USA.
At least two UK companies currently manufacture multiple-projectile kinetic impact munitions. The Lincolnshire-based company Centanex Ltd manufactures the CTX-BG CTX ball grenade, which the company says has been designed specifically for the requirements of various “UK police tactical firearms units and military users”.
The product data sheet lists applications for the grenade as including “public order/riot situations”. One model of the CTX ball grenade - the Ball Grenade 1.5s Stinger Balls - fires multiple small balls as kinetic impact projectiles.
Amnesty is calling for all multiple-projectile munitions - which are indiscriminate and overly-injurious - to be banned for use by law-enforcement agencies and for export.
Another Lincolnshire-based company - Primetake Ltd - manufactures a wide range of ammunition for use in public order situations which Amnesty also believes should be prohibited for such use and for export. The ammunition in question - all kinetic impact multiple-projectiles - are the firm’s following product lines: 2x18mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT1587, 3x18mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT3507, 9x8mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT1588, and 12x8mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT3523.
Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK’s Military, Security and Police Programme Director, said:
“It’s shocking that UK companies are selling inherently indiscriminate and highly injurious military-grade weaponry to overseas law-enforcement agencies.
“International law-enforcement standards are clear that force should only be used as a last resort and in a strictly proportionate fashion, yet police forces around the world are still spraying crowds of people with multiple-projectile weapons.
“The Government needs to urgently strengthen the UK’s export control system to prevent the trade in abusive policing and security equipment, and ministers should support international moves to establish new legally-binding rules to ban this equipment globally.”
2,882
The Issue
The UK cannot support a continuous breach of human rights and supply the USA with tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields that are being used against protestors.
By continuing the sale of these items, the UK is choosing profit over human rights and is unacceptable. Government records show it grants export licences worth millions of pounds for the sale of anti-crowd gas, riot equipment and other small arms to the US – but the government’s own rules say such exports should not go ahead where they are likely to be used for “internal repression”.With multiple journalists also being shot with these weapons, we need to halt the sale of these items to the USA.
At least two UK companies currently manufacture multiple-projectile kinetic impact munitions. The Lincolnshire-based company Centanex Ltd manufactures the CTX-BG CTX ball grenade, which the company says has been designed specifically for the requirements of various “UK police tactical firearms units and military users”.
The product data sheet lists applications for the grenade as including “public order/riot situations”. One model of the CTX ball grenade - the Ball Grenade 1.5s Stinger Balls - fires multiple small balls as kinetic impact projectiles.
Amnesty is calling for all multiple-projectile munitions - which are indiscriminate and overly-injurious - to be banned for use by law-enforcement agencies and for export.
Another Lincolnshire-based company - Primetake Ltd - manufactures a wide range of ammunition for use in public order situations which Amnesty also believes should be prohibited for such use and for export. The ammunition in question - all kinetic impact multiple-projectiles - are the firm’s following product lines: 2x18mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT1587, 3x18mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT3507, 9x8mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT1588, and 12x8mm rubber ball round 12 gauge PT3523.
Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK’s Military, Security and Police Programme Director, said:
“It’s shocking that UK companies are selling inherently indiscriminate and highly injurious military-grade weaponry to overseas law-enforcement agencies.
“International law-enforcement standards are clear that force should only be used as a last resort and in a strictly proportionate fashion, yet police forces around the world are still spraying crowds of people with multiple-projectile weapons.
“The Government needs to urgently strengthen the UK’s export control system to prevent the trade in abusive policing and security equipment, and ministers should support international moves to establish new legally-binding rules to ban this equipment globally.”
2,882
Supporter Voices
Petition created on 10 June 2025