Dozens of French ophthalmologists have written to the country’s President, Emmanuel Macron, to call for a moratorium on the use of bullet defence launchers (LBD).
The 35 ‘renowned ophthalmologists’ have condemned the use of LBD, which are non-lethal or ‘disabling weapons’, during the recent Yellow Vest protests that have rocked the country and have seen twenty cases of serious eye trauma.
Since the start of the Yellow Vest movement, more than 13,000 shots of LBD were recorded, and 2,200 demonstrators have been injured.
In the letter, which was originally sent to President Macron but later released to the French Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) due to lack of response, they said: ‘Mr President, such an “epidemic” of serious eye injuries has never occurred before.’
Authors also said their approach was that of medical professionals and the intention was not to criticise the government, but to reflect on the use of such devises.
Professor Bahram Bodaghi, head of the ophthalmology department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, said: ‘We have seen people with very serious ocular or facial lesions, most of which give rise to irreversible sequelae.’
Signatories, under the aegis of the French Society of Ophthalmology (SFO), have set up a monitoring until to accurately identify eye injuries by LBD, which they said, in most cases, are ‘irreversible’.
