Sound cannon manufacturer: Sound from Belgrade protest does not indicate use of this device

The company "Genasys", which manufactures LRAD devices, colloquially called "sonic cannons", announced that the evidence so far does not indicate that these devices were used during the protests in Belgrade on March 15th.

"The video and audio evidence we have seen and heard so far does not indicate the use of LRAD during the March 15 incident in Belgrade," the company said.

Interior Minister Ivica Dačić assessed that this "published key evidence that destroys all the lies and manipulations being put forward and confirms that the so-called sound cannon was not used at the rally in Belgrade."

Dačić's statement, which was transmitted by the ministry, states that "this was confirmed by the American manufacturer 'Genasys', from which the Ministry of the Interior purchased the devices in 2021, who categorically stated that the video and audio recordings they received do not support the use of LRAD, or the so-called sound cannon, at the rally on March 15th."

However, the company further points to a statement from the international NGO "Earshot", which determined that the recordings contain a sound consistent with the Vortex Ring Gun, or Vortex cannon.

The organization announced on the social network X on March 17 that activists from Serbia had contacted Earshot the day before with a request to investigate the potential use of sonic weapons by the government during a 15-minute silence in memory of the victims of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad.

"Earshot obtained 12 videos documenting moments in which weapons were allegedly used against protesters. Four of these videos contain sound consistent with the noise produced by a Vortex Ring Gun or Vortex cannon," the organization stated.

This weapon, explain experts from the Earshot organization, pushes gas from its cylinder at a speed of nearly 300 km/h, its ejection producing a howling noise that has been compared to a jet engine, along with vortex rings that can be ionized.

"This would create electromagnetic interference with devices such as hearing aids, which confirms the reports of witnesses at the protest," Earshot said.

If it is a Vortex cannon, the attached footage was taken at least 700 meters from its source, Earshot says.

"At that distance, the combustion of the weapon is no longer audible; only the distinct whistle of the pressure wave can be heard moving away from the point of firing towards the crowd, causing mass panic," the organization said.

At around 19:XNUMX p.m., while hundreds of thousands of citizens were silently paying tribute to the victims of the Novi Sad accident at a protest in Belgrade, the crowd gathered on King Milan Street suddenly dispersed from the roadway - in the face of what they describe as strong and unusual sounds and vibrations.

There is currently no official information on what caused such a reaction.

After the protest, witnesses spoke of loud sounds, vibrations in the body, and some said they felt heatstrokes.

There are also numerous testimonies about health problems in the days after the protests.

Four days after the protest, government representatives claimed that the police in Serbia did not have a "sound cannon", only to eventually say that they did possess one, but that they "did not use it".

Suspicions that such a device was used at the protest in Belgrade were raised by students in the blockade, part of the opposition, and non-governmental organizations for the protection of human rights.