US police to get grenade launchers

RESTRICTIONS on the sale of surplus military equipment to American police forces will be lifted under plans announced by the Trump administration.

The move, which will see forces supplied with an arsenal of high-powered weapons, including grenade launchers, is likely to reignite fears that US police departments are being turned into paramilitary forces. Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, announced the plan at a national policing convention yesterday.

Restrictions were put in place by the Obama administration in 2015 following a number of high profile killings of black men by the police, including Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

Misgivings about the use of weapons more suited to the battlefield were not only voiced by Democrats.

In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown, Rand Paul, a Republican presidential hopeful, spoke out against the “militarisation” of the police.

Mr Trump has been an outspoken supporter of the police, once urging officers not to be “too nice” to “thugs” who were being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon.