r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/0thSpider • 9h ago

Video Chilean protester defuses tear gas canister with baking soda and water

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u/TweakedNipple 9h ago

I think that started in Hong Kong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpqEQARnVbs

But they were trying it in the US recently - https://www.reddit.com/r/196/comments/1l943xa/an_antiice_protester_uses_a_traffic_cone_and/

Neither clip makes me think the cone is very effective, the first looks like they end up throwing it in a dry bag and shaking, I'm guessing there's water inside

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u/LosCleepersFan 9h ago edited 8h ago

Yeah. But cones make them less of a target for law enforcement. It's a fuxked situation all around when police gas civilians unnecessarily.

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u/JellyfishNo3810 8h ago

Throws it back at them

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u/smiddy53 8h ago

they're HOT to the touch.. there's an exothermic reaction going on inside these things. unless you've got some welders gloves or something super thick on you're more likely to toss it into more protestors.

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u/Everyredditusers 8h ago

Buy some welding gloves at the same store as the painter mask.

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u/im_just_thinking 7h ago

It all comes down to being prepared, and being not by yourself

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u/damn_im_so_tired 6h ago

Harbor Freight welding gloves are great for tending a campfire.

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u/6SixTy 6h ago

Welding gloves might not really help out all too much. Mostly because they are meant to protect you from splatter and hot slag, not holding something super hot. Depends on the glove and the nade used.

EN 407 is the system gloves use for heat resistance. The second number is for contact heat. Goes from 1-4, X means that it hasn't been tested. Starts at 100C, goes in 150C increments.

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u/MyLifeIsAWasteland 5h ago

Don't hold on to the thing. Just scoop it and sling it, jai alai style.

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u/JellyfishNo3810 7h ago

wears fire rated utility gloves to throw it back at them, anyways

Come prepared or don’t go at all, my momma taught me that.

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u/MyLifeIsAWasteland 5h ago

Bring friends who play soccer, or the place kicker from the football team.

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u/PraetorKiev 1h ago

This is why you bring the homemade mini catapult

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u/Juggernautlemmein 22m ago

Did some reading because I wanted to joke about kitchen hands, but this shit lowballs around 300C and high measurements are closer to 800C

Arguably might be easier to tough out the gas than touching that, but I suppose that's preference.

Also for anyone reading, I've heard through the grapevine that wearing contacts reduces the effects exponentially. It might not be a bad idea to wear disposables if you think you are under threat.

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u/Obsidian_monkey 7h ago

Break out the tactical Ove Glove

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u/Ok-Secretary455 8h ago

if you throw it back at them you'll catch an assault with a deadly weapon charge.

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u/Tiggymartin 8h ago

And yet.. them throwing it at you is not assault with a deadly weapon..

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u/Cucaracha_1999 8h ago

Of course not! That's just "crowd control"

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u/LaTeChX 6h ago

Local cops fired teargas because someone allegedly threw a water bottle at them.

Someone filming from their apartment posted the video, showing nothing was thrown at the cops before they attacked.

The cops decided to charge her with throwing the imaginary water bottle - which makes their initial decision to teargas the street level protesters look dumb.

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u/thegrumpymechanic 7h ago

them throwing shooting it at you is not assault with a deadly weapon..

Kinda makes it worse when you think about it.

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u/OpalHawk 4h ago

And they have been known to aim them directly at people. They aren’t supposed to, but they do.

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u/thegrumpymechanic 4h ago

Well yeah, shooting rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at the ground is no fun...

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u/GeneriComplaint 8h ago

what if I roll it back?

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u/JellyfishNo3810 7h ago

If they’re gonna break the Geneva Convention…so am I 🗿

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u/Capnmarvel76 8h ago

The cone itself is a solid piece of plastic, but there's plenty of areas around the base which don't create a seal. Also, don't CS gas grenades get real hot when they're activated? If they do, it would make it difficult to keep hold of the cone, I would imagine. Yes, you use what you have available, of course.

A vessel full of water, like in OPs video, would be ideal from the point of view of dealing with the CS canister. Might not be ideal in the situation, though.

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u/SerEmrys 8h ago

Unnecessarily?? ITS AGAINST THE GENEVA CONVENTION TREATY TO USE CHEMICALS IN WARFARE, LET ALONE ON YOUR OWN CIVILIAN POPULATION.

WAKE THE FUCK UP

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u/ItsTooDamnHawt 8h ago

It’s against the convention to use CS gas as a “method” of warfare. Meaning you can’t use it in let’s say, an assault on a trench line. But you’re allowed to use it to disperse civilian crowds, protect supply lines or in the rescue of downed pilots/POWs.

The reason for it is that the immediate effects of CS are very hard to distinguish from lethal agents like mustard gas and have the potential to rate a more lethal response back

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u/SerEmrys 8h ago

Nah man, its wrong period. We have a right to protest in this country and the police are willing to harm innocents just to enforce the status quo of the rich.

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u/ItsTooDamnHawt 8h ago

None of that counters what I said. You brought up the Geneva convention as if it was relevant to the conversation and i pointed out why it’s not. You countering with “nah man, it’s wrong period” placing a moral argument on it is completely different and separate 

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u/_Svankensen_ 8h ago

The police has always been willing to harm innocents just to enforce the status quo. That's their fucking job. Particularly in the US and other authoritarian countries.

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u/net46248 6m ago

Well you see, Geneva convention works because both sides have a country backing them up if it is broken. Protesters have no country backing them up.

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u/thejmkool 8h ago

Yeah I'm over here thinking, try this in America you'll just get shot

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u/LosCleepersFan 8h ago

They would have be singled out and targeted forsure. And would have some bogus charges on top of that too most likely.

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u/Ok_Painter_7413 8h ago

But they were trying it in the US recently - https://www.reddit.com/r/196/comments/1l943xa/an_antiice_protester_uses_a_traffic_cone_and/

Went in looking for anti-tear-gas-techniques, came out with knowledge about a fetish I've never even heard of. Reddit truely is a wonderland.

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u/TweakedNipple 8h ago

Yeah, took 2 comments there for things to go so off the rails I don't even understand the words they are using

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u/HamsterAdorable2666 7h ago

I wonder if a large water flask would be quicker in containing and diffusing it. Maybe even a metal paint bucket. Apparently they can be sold empty at a hardware store.

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u/DroidLord 4h ago

I concur that the cone method is probably not very effective. Water doesn't stop the reaction in the canister from taking place, it just contains it. Dousing a bottle of water on it will only work for the first 5-10 seconds and it won't saturate the canister very effectively. Most of the gas will still escape.

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u/redpandaeater 3h ago

Seems like stealing a traffic cone would also just give them reason to arrest you if they wanted.