Calls were mounting in Serbia on Monday for an independent investigation into reports that security forces used a prohibited sonic weapon on crowds at a huge peaceful anti-corruption rally last weekend, even though authorities vehemently denied it.
Serbian rights groups and opposition officials allege that such a weapon that emits a targeted beam to temporarily incapacitate people was used at the protest Saturday, even though it is banned in Serbia. They said they will file charges with international and domestic courts against those who ordered the attack.
Serbia’s authoritarian and pro-Russian President Aleksandar Vucic again on Monday denied that the crowd-control device was deployed, calling it a “wicked lie” aimed at “destroying Serbia.”
He said he will soon invite the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and also Russia’s Federal Security Service, FSB, to investigate the claims.
“It is important for history to see how they lied,” he said, referring to those who claim the sonic weapon was used.
Serbian officials have indirectly admitted that the police had about two years ago added the crowd control weapon to their arsenal, but insist that it was not used during Saturday’s rally.
In its online petition signed by over half a million people, the opposition Move-Change movement asked the United Nations, Council of Europe as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for an independent investigation “into the use of a sound cannon on March 15 against peaceful protesters in Belgrade.”
The petition demands that the investigation “includes the medical, legal and technical aspects of its impact on health and human rights.”
Former Serbian President Boris Tadic also said that he “will ask for international help to determine the truth about the events that caused grave violation of public safety and endangered health and lives of the Serbian citizens at the protest on Saturday.”
Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia’s capital on Saturday to protest the deaths of 15 people at a railway station canopy collapse on November 1. Almost daily demonstrations that started in response to the tragedy have shaken Vucic’s decade-long firm grip on power, with many blaming the crash on rampant government corruption.
Footage from the rally shows people standing during a 15-minute silence for the rail station victims when a sudden piercing sound triggers panic and a brief stampede. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said people started scrambling for cover, leaving the middle of the downtown street almost empty as they fell over each other.
Those exposed to the weapon experience sharp ear pain, disorientation and panic, security experts say. Prolonged exposure can cause eardrum ruptures and irreversible hearing damage.
Many who say they were in the epicenter of the alleged attack complained on social media about strong headache, nausea and disorientation.
Some security experts have alleged that US-made Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) — a specialized sound-emitting tool capable of delivering high-frequency sound waves over significant distances — was used at the protest. Their claims cannot be independently verified.
Vucic, who says that the university students-led protests are part of a Western ploy to topple him from power, has warned that all those who spread disinformation will be held accountable in courts.