The World - News from May 26, 1989

American doctors returning from a week in the Soviet Union said they believe the Soviet army used a World War I-era toxic gas against demonstrators in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi last month. Soviet officials have acknowledged that two forms of tear gas were used to disperse a crowd of up to 10,000 holding an all-night vigil in Tbilisi’s Lenin Square on April 9. At least 20 people died during and after the protest. The American delegation from Physicians for Human Rights said it concluded on the basis of videotapes, interviews and medical records that a third, more potent gas was probably used. The group identified the gas as Chloropicrin, first used during World War I in 1916.