CNN anchor: Why not use water cannons on Ferguson protesters?

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, have come under fire for harshly cracking down on protesters outraged over the killing of Michael Brown. So to alleviate concerns about the safety of demonstrators, CNN anchor Rosemary Church offered this novel suggestion: Instead of firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, why not blow them away with water cannons?

To answer Church, water cannons are hardly a safe alternative to tear gas; one blinded a German man a few years back. They also evoke the disturbing images of police gleefully blasting civil rights protesters in the 1960s, which, given the racial component to the protests in Ferguson, is not exactly the message law enforcement would want to send right now.

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