Demonstration Munitions

SAN FRANCISCO — Police in Oakland, California, may not use stinger grenades, wooden bullets, rubber or rubber-coated bullets, pepper balls and similar munitions against demonstrators, a federal court in California ruled, finding that many of the items are already prohibited by the city’s crowd-control policy.

But banning chemical agents, flashbang grenades and foam projectiles outright could “endanger public safety” and “increase the dangers faced by protestors,” the court added.

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