During the mass protests in Belgrade, an invisible sonic attack occurred against the gathered crowd, the circumstances of which are yet to be determined. Despite the Serbian authorities initially denying the use of a sound cannon, more and more information supports the students’ claims, Danas.rs writes.
First, Serbia’s Minister of Police, Ivica Dacic, retracted his initial statements, saying that his claim that the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs does not possess a sound cannon was clumsy.
“These systems are in our warehouses, in boxes. They are indeed owned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but they have not been put into use, nor have they been mounted on any of our vehicles or systems,” Dacic said.
Then, photographs from March 15th emerged from Belgrade, showing a device mounted on a vehicle of the Belgrade Gendarmerie, resembling a sound cannon.
Now, testimony has surfaced from a Gendarmerie officer who claims that “multiple sound cannons” were deployed at the protests on Saturday. He spoke about his engagement at the protests, but for his protection, the media did not publish his name.
“The device was mounted on the hood of our Defender vehicle, which we colloquially call ‘Indijanac.’ That is a Defender without a roof. Next to it was an ‘operator’ responsible for handling the device. Besides this vehicle, to its left, another identical vehicle was parked with the same kind of device. We were told that the device would be activated if necessary and instructed on how to behave in case of activation,” said the source, who will likely be involved in the collective lawsuit filed by students and other citizens affected by the sonic attack.
He states that he was not the only one near the vehicle with the sound cannon, but that the entire Gendarmerie unit was present and that the vehicle was not visible from the street due to the fence surrounding the Serbian National Assembly. He also emphasizes that the sound cannon he stood next to was not used but that it was not the only one. Additionally, he says there are mobile devices that are not mounted on vehicles.
According to him, each Gendarmerie unit (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Nis) has two such devices, and that this has never been concealed from members, but until these protests, they were never taken out of the base.
“We were also told that one device was placed in or near the presidency building and that the tractors parked around Pioneers Park were positioned specifically to deflect the blast from the cannon if it were used because our people were in the park as well,” he said.
