Outgoing Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević announced that he had sent a letter to United States Vice President JD Vance, in which he, among other things, spoke about the initiative for the US to be involved in investigating allegations of the alleged use of a "sonic cannon" during the March 15 protests in Belgrade.
"I supported President Aleksandar Vučić's initiative to involve US investigative authorities in examining false allegations by opposition media about the alleged use of a 'sonic cannon' or other similar device during an unregistered protest on March 15," Vučević wrote in an Instagram post on March 20.
He stated that in the letter he thanked Vance for everything the American people had done for the Serbs "in the crucial historical periods during the two world wars, but also after them."
"I reminded the esteemed Vice President of all the cultural ties that bind our two countries and emphasized the full readiness of the Serbian leadership to open new chapters in Serbian-American relations," Vučević said.
A day earlier, Vučević announced that he had sent a request to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Russian Security Service (FSB) to conduct independent investigations into whether a sound cannon was used at the protest.
He once again reiterated the position of the Serbian authorities that "no 'sound cannon' or anything similar was used on March 15th at any location."
Previously, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) announced that Minister Ivica Dačić had sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel inviting him to assist in an expert analysis in the area of using devices that emit sound waves.
Top state officials claimed that neither the police nor the army possessed a "sound cannon", and therefore the device "could not have been used" at the mass protest in Belgrade.
Four days after the protest, Dačić stated that the Ministry of Interior does possess the "LRAD-450XL" and "LRAD-100X" devices, also called "sound cannons", but that they are only used for warning, or sending sound messages during large gatherings.
Officials also denied the allegations of the international non-governmental organization "Earshot", which, based on the analysis of video and audio recordings from the March 15th protests, stated that the sound produced by the Vortex Ring Gun, or Vortex cannon, can be heard in them.
While hundreds of thousands of citizens protested in Belgrade in silence to pay tribute to the victims of the Novi Sad accident, those gathered on King Milan Street suddenly fled 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.
Meanwhile, the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade announced that none of the state institutions used the so-called "sound cannon" at the protest on March 15th.
Students on a blockade, who called for a protest insisting on determining responsibility for the collapse of a concrete canopy in Novi Sad, accused the authorities of using a sound cannon during a 15-minute silence for the 15 deaths.
Some opposition parties and non-governmental organizations joined the accusations.
The "sonic cannon" belongs to a group of non-lethal weapons that can be used for police and military purposes - for riot control, repelling attacks, or communicating over long distances.
The 2020 United Nations guidelines state that, while such types of weapons are designed to reduce the risk of death compared to conventional firearms, their use can still cause serious injury or death.
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