6/29/2004: Water cannons

Water cannons knock over supporters of opposition presidential candidate and movie star Fernando Poe Jr. during a march at Malacanang presidential palace in Manila.

This isn't particularly interesting as an image except for the effect of the hoses. I can't remember water being used to disperse protestors in the US in a long time - rubber bullets, other kinds of things we've seen in IotD but not this. I always wonder whether it would actually be fun, in a way, to get sprayed - as long as you didn't take one in the face and get your eyeballs hosed out.

Also it has an effect on the impact of the protestors: "We're protesting! And we're wet!"

Guy in the middle is hoping for an enema.

Conga!

I've never caught the full brunt of a water cannon, and in no hurry - but my brother's a volunteer fireman and I got to fire a 1 1/2 inch firehose. I think it delivered around two gallons per second or so, I might be wrong there. The recoil is quite a feeling; it's basically a 16-pound bowling ball flying out of that thing once a second. Being in front of it can't be any fun, but it probably still beats tear gas (which I have caught a lungful of). And believe me, I'd rather get hit by an hour's worth of water coming out of that hose that have the brass nozzle end get loose and come back and whale me one!! And oh yeah, the stream of water went completely across the parking lot, over the two-lane highway at just under power-line height with cars going by underneath and could just about wash the guy's car, in its normal spot in the driveway, who lives across from the firehouse. Gotta love small towns

Doesn't anybody remember the grainy black and white footage of the civil rights marchers in the south, being swept down the gutter by water cannons and fire hoses? Images of people trying to get behind utility poles and fire hydrants stand out in my mind, more than the clubblings and dogs. People being swept helplessly away like garbage.

I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that water cannon.
Firefighters must train just to keep to jet steady and it is not easy from what I am told, let alone fighting a big fire blaze

Dude with the red and white jacket is about to seriously get tore up. And the guy in the middle may have allready got that enema he's looking for from the appearance of that spot on his butt.

Look at the stream. There's a lot of dispersal, but the core of the stream is travelling *dead flat* over a goodly distance. This means a whole lot of pressure. Ouch.

So, how much harm can a stream of water do, really?

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