Why exactly the indoctrination centers and police in Gwent, Wales decided it was time to show off weapons to four and five year old students in the classroom is unclear, but things went horribly wrong after a live pepper spray round of PAVA (Pelargonic Acid Vanillylamide) was confused with the PAVA mock spray the cops meant to demonstrate to the kindergarten-aged children.

RT reports:

Gwent Police accidentally sprayed a class of four and five year olds with pepper spray at a school in Wales during a botched weapons demonstration.

Eight pupils aged four and five were hit with the spray, which causes the eyes to close and is extremely painful.

None of the children required hospital treatment, but parents were urged to seek medical assistance if they had concerns about their children’s welfare.

One parent said that although she was unimpressed with the officers’ conduct, she believed the discharge of chemicals was “a genuine mistake.”

The parents seemed unusually understanding; the department issued a token apology. Investigations are pending.

“Further enquiries into the error are now being undertaken and, as a result of yesterday’s incident, school liaison officers will no longer be taking any demonstration (mock) PAVA spray into schools.”

A similar, if not worse, incident was reported in Nottinghamshire, England, where a botched weapons demonstration resulted in police accidentally discharged a gun and a spent ammunition cartridge injured a 7 year old girl, cutting her lip.

Back in May, a Chinese policemen giving a “fun, safety talk” discharged accidentally discharged a live weapon “to satisfy the ‘curiosity of the children’,” in turn injuring a kindergarten child and four parents with cement fragments created by the bullet.

In 2004, an (apparently undercover) DEA agent was caught on video shooting his own foot during a demonstration to a youth group in Orlando:

Obviously, things could have been even worse, but these young impressionable children must be learning quickly that they should be cautious around authority figures and slow to trust them with their mission:

Protect and serve.