Photos confirm MPD fired stingball grenades Sat night (Aug 29)

On Sep 1, photos were published on Twitter confirming that MPD used stingball (rubber pellet) grenades late night on Saturday, Aug 29 against protesters on and around Black Lives Matter Plaza. One protester ended up in the hospital after one of these rubber balls penetrated their leg, and several more with metal fragments in their eyes, possibly from the detonators within the grenades.

This weapon is best known in DC for its past use against the J20 protests against Donald Trump's Inauguration, but seems to have inflicted more serious injuries this time around. This in spite of the fact that at least 70 of them were thrown during J20. It is not known if cops used even more of them this time, or simply threw them to detonate at closer range. Since rubber pellets slow down fast in air, reducing the range makes the pellets much more dangerous.