Pressure is growing on the Serbian government over reports security forces used a prohibited sonic weapon against a peaceful crowd during an anti-corruption rally.
More than half a million people have signed a petition calling for an independent investigation – with new footage adding to the mounting speculation surrounding the dispersal tactics used during the 15 March demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people in the capital Belgrade.
In the video footage, protesters can be seen holding up their lit mobile phones in silence – when suddenly there is a swooshing sound and the crowds start running away in panic.
The alleged use of the sonic weapon occurred during a 15-minute period of silence to honour the victims of the Novi Sad disaster, when a concrete canopy at a railway station collapsed, killing 16 people.
A wave of demonstrations by students and opponents of the government have followed November’s tragedy, which many Serbians blame on corruption and mismanagement.
Sonic weapons, which are illegal in Serbia, emit sound waves that can trigger physical and psychological effects, including dizziness, severe headaches, sharp ear pain, disorientation, eardrum ruptures, or even irreversible hearing damage.
Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, has dismissed the allegations that a sonic weapon was used at the peaceful protest as “lies and fabrications”.
‘Like a sound from hell’
Ilic Sunderic, who was at the rally said it was “quiet and peaceful and then we heard something we could not see… like a sound rolling toward us”.
It was, she said, “a subdued sound lasting only 2-3 seconds but very unusual and very frightening, like a sound from hell.”
“I have been going to protests for 30 years but I’ve never heard anything like this,” she added.
Hundreds of others have offered similar accounts to hers, and officials have issued often contradictory denials, prompting calls for answers to explain what caused the sudden commotion if not a sonic device.
Pictures from the Belgrade protest show what appears to be an LRAD 450XL, whose California-based manufacturer, Genasys, said on X that the evidence it had seen “does not support the use of an LRAD” at the demonstration.
The photos showed nothing more than “loudspeakers” that also are available on eBay, Serbia’s interior minister Ivica Dacic said. The rectangular devices, purchased from a US supplier in 2021, serve to emit warnings to the crowds in case of major trouble, he said.
“Serbian police have never, including March 15, used any illegal or unallowed device that is not envisaged by the law, including the device known as a sound cannon,” said Mr Dacic. “Police only use sound devices for warnings.”
‘Biblical’ panic and stampede
Student Sasa Cvrkovic, 23, likened the sound to a “jet” flying past. He said it created panic and a brief stampede, adding that a “young man next to me broke his leg”.
He said he felt nauseous the day after, 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 “reacting en masse to something that is making them feel deeply unsettled or deeply uncomfortable”.
“An almost kind of biblical passing of a huge number of people in a very panicked rush,” he said.
Many who were in the crowd later complained of headaches, confusion, ear pressure, or nausea.
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Hundreds of thousands of people have signed an online petition organised by the Serbian opposition Move-Change movement asking the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe for an independent investigation.
Several Serbian rights groups said on Tuesday they have taken the issue to the European Court of Human Rights, after collating more than 4,000 statements from people who complained of various physical and psychological problems after the incident.
