WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests

BBC News

By Max Hudson,Oana Marocico and Sarah Buckley,BBC Eye Investigations

November 30, 2025

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.

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