A South African company has built a drone designed to shower pepper spray on unruly crowds and says it has begun supplying units to an international mining company.
Desert Wolf claims it wants to help in "preventing another Marikana" – a reference to a protest in August 2012 at which 34 striking mineworkers were shot and killed during clashes with the police.
But the "Skunk Riot Control Copter" was condemned by labour activists as "absolutely outrageous" and compared with deadly US military dronesin Pakistan.
Desert Wolf is marketing the 500,000 rand (£27,400) machine, unveiled at a recent trade show, as "designed to control unruly crowds without endangering the lives of the protesters or the security staff".