- Do not wear contacts at demos with this risk. Do not use milk, yoghurt, or Malox. Only use plain water from a bottle you didn’t drink from.
- Focus on the eyes; it’s the most important.
- Wear gloves that have no pepper spray on them.
- Ask the person to squat with their legs as open as possible so the pepper spray and water doesn’t get on their clothes.
- Do not let the person rub or touch their eyes even if it burns.
- Hold your water bottle upside down (with squirty cap, or from a plastic bottle with a hole poked in the top).
- Ask them to open their eyes on the count of three, or force their eyes open with two fingers, as close to the eyelashes as possible.
- Apply a lot of pressure and a lot of water. Wash it away from the nose and mouth (ask them to tilt their head).
- Ask them to take out snot from nose and spit from mouth.
- If no water: try to fan them with a scarf.
- If they are allergic or have asthma, call an ambulance.
Pepper Spray
- Makeup and oil-based cosmetics, such as sunscreen, used on the face can worsen the effects of pepper spray.
- Call a demo medic to you.
- Form a circle around the injured person.
- Gently wash the eyes with a spray bottle filled with clean water.
- For each 10x10 cm area: 1) Use a baby wipe (containing oil) to gently dab the affected skin areas to clean (fat-soluble). 2) Following, not the eyes!: Immediately follow with pads soaked in 70% pure alcohol to gently wipe.
- Afterward, rinse the affected areas with cool water.
- Post-care, if there is no allergy, apply Aloe Vera gel.
- Caution, rumor: For over twenty years, a false and dangerous rumor has circulated that towels soaked in lemon juice or vinegar, held in front of the mouth, would help. This is incorrect(!), as it only reduces the perception of the smell, which actually increases the risk of poisoning.
- Police protocol dictates spraying directly into the face, and if the effect is not apparent, 're-spraying' again.
- The large cartridge (RSG-8) with 400 ml and a fan spray range of up to seven meters may not be used by riot police from a distance of less than two meters.
- The smaller version (RSG-4) with a thin, concentrated stream may not be used from less than one meter, except in self-defense.
- According to police regulations, use against children and pregnant women is prohibited.
- Legal action can be taken under administrative law (Verwaltungsrecht) (no counter-charge from officers expected).
- Alcohol consumption opens pores, allowing the spray to penetrate faster and deeper.
- There is a potential life-threatening risk when combined with cocaine or amphetamines.
- Wash as hot as possible, starting from 60 degrees with pre-wash.
- Use detergent dosing for very dirty laundry.
- If heavily contaminated: two wash cycles + one empty cycle at 90 degrees.
