Republican News · Thursday 19 December 2002

Plastic bullets report calls for monitoring

Relatives for Justice spokesperson Clara Reilly said a new report into the use of plastic bullets, by Independent British Military Complaints Assessor, Jim McDonald, highlights the need for a total ban on the deadly weapon.

The report, released last week, revealed there has been a large increase in the number of plastic bullets fired by British soldiers in the Six Counties.

Between January 2002 and October 2002 British soldiers fired 85 plastic bullets in 11 separate incidents, including 17 fired in the Short Strand in August, compared with 17 fired there in the whole of 2001.

The report showed that eight rounds fired by the British army struck people on the upper torso while 25 missed their target completely. The report calls for video cameras to be used to film soldiers firing plastic bullets.