Pressure growth on the Serbian government on reports of security forces used a banned sonic weapon against a peaceful crowd during a anti-corruption event.
More than half a million people have signed a petition requesting an independent investigation – with new footage contributing to the increasing speculation surrounding the distribution sheets during the March 15 Demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people in the capital Belgrade.
In the video, protesters can be seen to stop their enlightened cell phones in silence – when there is suddenly a swooshing sound and the crowds in panic start to run away.
The alleged use of the sonic weapon occurred during a 15-minute period to honor the victims of the Novi SAD disaster, when a concrete roof collapsed at a railway station and killed 16 people.
A wave of protests by students and opponents of government followed November’s tragedy, which blames many Serbs for corruption and mismanagement.
The mass anti-government meeting of March 15 took place in the Serbian capital Belgrado. Pic: ap
A drone view of the demonstration. Photo: Reuters
Sonic weapons, which are illegal in Serbia, emit sound waves that can cause physical and psychological effects, including dizziness, severe headaches, sharp ear pain, desorth, mourning drum fractures or even irreversible hearing damage.
Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, rejected the allegations that a sonic weapon was used by the peaceful protest as “lies and manufacturing”.
‘Like a sound from hell’
Ilic Sunderic, who was at the rally, said it was “quiet and calm and then we heard something we couldn’t see … like a sound rolling to us”.
It was, she said, “A muted sound that lasts only 2-3 seconds, but very unusual and very frightening, like a sound from hell.”
“I’ve been going to protests for 30 years, but I’ve never heard anything like that,” she added.
Hundreds of others offered similar accounts to her, and officials often issued conflicting denials, which asked to give answers to explain what caused the sudden riot, if not a sonic device.
Photos of the Belgrado protests show what appears to be a LRAD 450XL, of which California producer, Genasys, said on X that the evidence it saw “does not support the use of a LRAD” during the demonstration.
The photos showed nothing more than ‘speakers’ who are also available on eBay, Home Secretary Ivica Dacic said. The rectangular devices, which were purchased from a US supplier in 2021, serve to give warnings to the crowds in case of major problems, he said.
“Serbian police have never, including March 15, used any illegal or non -added device that is not envisaged by the law, including the device known as a healthy canon,” says Mr. Dacic. “The police only use audio devices for warnings.”
Serbian Gendarmerie officers show an US-made long-range acoustic device (LRAD). Lying Photo: Serbian Interior Ministry
Lying Photo: Serbian Interior Ministry
Lying Photo: Serbian Interior Ministry
‘Biblical’ panic and stamped
Student Sasa Cvrkovic, 23, compared the sound to a ‘jet’ that flies past. He said it panicked and a short bumping members, adding that a ‘young man next to me broke his leg’.
He said he felt nauseous the next day, while Ms Sunderic said she felt pressure in her head and ears.
Thomas Withington, an expert in electronic warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) Thinktank, described the protesters as “responding massively to something that makes them feel deeply restless or deeply uncomfortable”.
“An almost kind of biblical passing of a large number of people in a very panicked rush,” he said.
Many people who were in the crowd later complained of headaches, confusion, overprints or nausea.
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Hundreds of thousands of people have signed an online request organized by the Serbian opposition move change movement, which asked the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for an independent investigation.
Several Serbian rights groups said on Tuesday that they took the issue to the European Court of Human Rights, after collecting more than 4,000 statements from people who complained about different physical and psychological problems after the incident.
