Georgia's Police Accused of Using WW1 Chemical to Suppress Protests

Fri Dec 05 2025 06:43:11 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Recent findings suggest Georgian authorities deployed a toxic chemical compound, originally used in World War I, against protesters, leading to severe health consequences.

Evidence emerging from an investigation by BBC claims that during anti-government protests in Tbilisi, Georgia, authorities utilized a toxic substance known as 'camite', affecting demonstrators with long-lasting health issues. The chemical, developed for use in World War I, has reportedly caused symptoms including burning sensations, shortness of breath, and persistent coughing. Medical studies and whistleblower accounts raise serious concerns regarding the legality and ethical implications of using such harmful agents in crowd control.

Georgia's authorities used a World War One-era chemical weapon to quell anti-government protesters last year, evidence gathered by the BBC suggests.

You could feel [the water] burning, one of the protesters said of water cannon turned on him and others on the streets of the capital Tbilisi. A sensation, he said, which could not immediately be washed off.

Demonstrators against the Georgian government's suspension of its European Union accession bid have complained of other symptoms too - shortness of breath, coughing, and vomiting that lasted for weeks.

The BBC World Service has spoken to chemical weapons experts, whistleblowers from Georgia's riot police, and doctors, and found the evidence points to the use of an agent that the French military named camite.

The Georgian authorities said our investigation findings were absurd and the police had acted legally in response to the illegal actions of brutal criminals.

Camite was deployed by France against Germany during World War One. There is little documentation of its subsequent use, but it is believed to have been taken out of circulation at some point in the 1930s, because of concerns about its long-lasting effects. CS gas - often referred to as tear gas - was used as a replacement.

Konstantine Chakhunashvili was one of those who gathered outside Georgia's parliament in Tbilisi during the first week of protests - which began on 28 November 2024. Demonstrators were incensed by the ruling party's announcement that it was pausing EU accession talks. The goal of EU membership is enshrined in Georgia's constitution.

Georgia's police responded with a variety of riot-control measures including the use of water cannon, pepper spray and CS gas. Dr Chakhunashvili, a pediatrician who was among those sprayed by the cannons, and who has taken part in many of the demonstrations, said his skin felt like it was burning for days, and the sensation couldn't be washed away. In fact, he said, it was worse when trying to wash it off.

Dr Chakhunashvili wanted to find out if others had suffered similar effects. So he appealed, via social media, for those also targeted by crowd control measures during the first week of the demonstrations to fill out a survey. Nearly 350 people got in touch, and almost half said they had suffered one or more side-effects for more than 30 days.

These long-term symptoms ranged from headaches to fatigue, coughs, shortness of breath, and vomiting.

His study has since been peer-reviewed and has been accepted for publication by Toxicology Reports, an international journal. Sixty-nine of those surveyed by Dr Chakhunashvili were also examined by him and found to have significantly higher prevalence of abnormalities in the electrical signals in the heart.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs - responsible for the police - refused to identify what had been used.

Several high-level whistleblowers connected to the Special Tasks Department - the official name of Georgia's riot police - helped the BBC determine this chemical's likely identity.

A former head of weaponry at the department, Lasha Shergelashvili, believes it is the same compound he was asked to test for use in water cannon in 2009.

Based on the results of Dr Chakhunashvili's study, victim testimony, the riot police inventory, and Mr Shergelashvili's account of the chemical tests, Prof Holstege believes that this is the case.

Camite was briefly used as a riot control agent by the American police post-World War One, but was abandoned after safer options such as CS gas were invented. Given there are safer and more conventional riot-control agents available to police, an obsolete and more potent agent could be classed as a chemical weapon, according to weapons experts consulted by the BBC.

The protests on Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue have dwindled in their size since the government increased fines and jail terms, but not in their frequency. Almost every night for the past year, demonstrators have called for the resignation of a government they accuse of rigging elections, siding with Russian interests, and passing increasingly draconian legislation against civil society.