Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic has exhibited for the first time the sonic weapon known as the "sonic cannon", which was allegedly used to disperse protesters who rose up on Saturday against Aleksandar Vucic's authoritarian regime in Belgrade.
After a press conference, Dacic accompanied reporters to the courtyard of the SIV building to show them a gendarmerie vehicle with an LRAD device mounted.
Members of the gendarmerie unit from Novi Sad, who had their vehicle with the LRAD device photographed near the parliament building, demonstrated how these devices work and played a pre-recorded message, which, according to Dacic, warns protesters to disperse.
The gendarmerie members fired a smaller LRAD, the LRAD 100X, and played the recorded sound.
Acting police director Dragan Vasiljevic said that the voice of the commander of the gendarmerie unit was recorded on the device.
"We use it for warnings, we are not allowed to use it as a 'sound cannon'." When it was time to demonstrate the other, larger device, the LRAD 450 XL, which was located in the aforementioned gendarmerie vehicle, a problem arose, as its battery was not working," he said.
The sound that echoed during the Belgrade protests caused panic in the crowd, and demonstrators and some analysts are convinced that it was an acoustic cannon used to disperse the crowd heading towards the Presidency.
The "sonic cannon" is a non-lethal weapon that emits strong acoustic waves in a specific direction and can cause headaches, nausea, disorientation in affected persons, but a possible consequence is permanent hearing damage. (A2 Televizion)
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