More than half a million people have signed an online petition calling for an independent investigation into whether security forces in Serbia used a sonic weapon – what the petition described as a “sound cannon” – during Saturday’s huge anti-corruption rally.
Days after as many as 325,000 people took to the streets of Belgrade, rights groups and opposition parties continue to allege that protesters were targeted with some sort of auditory device that briefly sowed panic and left some with symptoms that lingered long after the rally.
Serbian politicians and police have denied the allegations. Earlier this week, the country’s increasingly autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić, described the claim as a “wicked lie” that was aimed at “destroying Serbia”.
The allegation has added pressure on Vučić as he faces his biggest challenge yet to his decade-long grip on power. Since November, near-daily protests have taken place over the collapse of a train station roof in the northern city of Novi Sad. The tragedy, which killed 15 people, soon became a flashpoint as people across the country seized on it to demand greater government transparency and express their broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Saturday’s protest was the movement’s strongest show of force to date.
Video captured on Saturday evening showed people standing in the street, observing 15 minutes of silence for those killed in the rail station disaster. The video then appeared to show the crowds part suddenly – the Associated Press noted that a piercing sound shattered the silence – triggering a panicked scramble for cover.
Campaigners claimed the video captured the moment in which protesters were targeted with what they described as a crowd control device. Several people who attended the rally later said on social media that they were suffering from lingering headaches, nausea and ringing in their ears.
As questions swirled over what exactly had taken place, the focus landed on a photo from Saturday’s protest that appeared to show a police vehicle with a large piece of equipment fixed to the bonnet.
Serbia’s interior minister, Ivica Dačić, on Wednesday denied the equipment had been used against protesters. The vehicle had “remained stationary, and the device was not used elsewhere, nor was sound played from it, except during preparations, drills, and what’s necessary for the operation of these units”, Dačić said, according to Agence France-Presse. “Its use as a sound cannon is prohibited,” he added.
Aleksandar Radić, a Belgrade-based military analyst, told AFP that the equipment resembled an American-made long-range acoustic device capable of delivering high-frequency sound waves over significant distances. It could be used for “crowd control, repelling attacks on critical infrastructure, or even in anti-piracy operations”, he added.
Soon after Saturday’s protest, the opposition Move-Change movement launched a petition addressed to the UN special rapporteurs on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression as well as the Council of Europe.
By Thursday, more than 590,000 people had added their names to its call for an international, independent investigation into the events. “The use of illegal means against civilians represents a serious violation of the constitutional and internationally recognised rights of citizens, which requires an urgent response by international bodies,” the petition said.
The call for action was heightened by six NGOs in Serbia which said they had joined forces to collect testimonies from the day. More than 3,000 reports had already poured in, with witnesses detailing “a powerful sonic impact, accompanied by a wave of heat or wind”, the organisations said in a statement.
Some described the sound as a “deep roar” akin to a jet engine or a train in a tunnel, “combined with a high-frequency whistle, a cannon blast or an explosion”.
The organisations called on Serbian prosecutors to also gather testimony from those who attended, but said these witnesses needed to be protected with confidentiality guaranteed.
“Based on the collected testimonies, it is evident that a strong sonic impact occurred during the protest, causing a range of physical and psychological reactions among those present,” they said. “We call on the competent institutions to urgently investigate these allegations and inform the public of their findings.”
With contributions from Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
