WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests | Hacker News Reader

WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests

bbc.com

38 pointsetiam7 comments

I was one of the protesters during the December 2024 events. It was deadly. Nothing worked against the gas — even if you had a $100 mask and multiple layers of goggles, your whole face and eyes would still burn like hell. Tear drops helped very little. We also had a big protest in October this year, and from what I heard from friends, it was far worse, and you could smell the gas from a kilometer away.

I read the article in full and it was extremely concerning. However one nagging doubt I have. Why have samples not been collected, tested and verified as containing bromobenzyl cyanide?

> Speaking from his new home in Ukraine, he tells the BBC that when watching footage of the protests last year

You know your country is bad when people flee to Ukraine!

There’s precedent for Georgian dissidents fleeing to Ukraine. Saakashvili was living in Ukraine for a while before he returned and is AFAIK still in prison in Georgia.

I fled to Georgia when the invasion started and lived there 10 months. I’m grateful to the Georgian people for their hospitality towards me and my Ukrainian colleagues who took shelter there in a very dark time. But having said that we all subsequently returned to Ukraine.

Georgia isn’t a bad country. It’s very under rated in my opinion. The Georgian people are very friendly, their (private) healthcare is high quality, and as long as you don’t run afoul of the ruling party it’s pretty safe as well. But Ukraine even in a time of war is more advanced and has better economic infrastructure. If I were a Georgian dissident I could easily see myself fleeing to Ukraine.

This could be true so what is needed is something else besides 'BBC evidence' since the latter has been shown [1] to be unreliable [2] at best. Are there any less biased sources available to stave this claim?

If anyone working at the BBC happens to read along please be aware of the enormous damage your organisation has done to its credibility by being so openly and brazenly biased. The BBC and the BBC World Service used to be considered somewhat stodgy but mostly factual and correct but those days are gone.

[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/03/bbc-report-revea...

[2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/04/bbc-arabic-bias-...

I find them far more trustworthy than the telegraph

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