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Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

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Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are aware that these LRAD systems have been used against US citizens, aren't you?

Police also regularly use tear gas against US citizens. These are weapons that would violate the Geneva convention, but we're okay with them to disperse a crowd.

> These are weapons that would violate the Geneva convention, but we're okay with them to disperse a crowd.

Isn't that a category ban that came out of a couple specific members of that category that were used and had particularly nasty effects? And then countries' domestic law enforcement rules tend to be defined in different terms.

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are they against the Geneva convention because of the direct effects, or because in a war you’d then proceed to kill everyone while they’re coughing?

AIUI they are mainly banned because they could lead to escalations in chemical weapons usage. If your enemy uses tear gas vs cs gas, it could be hard to tell right away and you might feel pressure to use all the tools you have available (including lethal chemical weapons) vs. Play by the rules. Of course if you are fighting a real war, there is probably going to be chem weapons used. It happened in Syria. It is happe…

something to consider is that in the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) the military used a bunker buster on a Sarin gas storage facility and shot the sarin high into the atmosphere, where it then floated far downwind and landed on US troops. Ofc, reporting on it doesn't really consider Iraqi civilians and is only weepy about US soldiers.

https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2022/s...

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#125
post #16

I wonder how the engineers and scientists who contributed to that less-lethal weapon feel about it.

This has to be about people who pushes the button. Not about the people who invents the technology. Otherwise you might want to stop all the kitchen knifes production, cause people occasionally use those to kill each other.

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#126

Serbia had the LRAD systems on hand, after buying them in 2022, most likely from Genasys, but possibly from HyperSpike. https://genasys.com/lrad-products/ It's a legal gray area in Serbia where the use against civilians isn't explicitly forbidden, so they're playing fast and loose and moving fast to crush opposition. It's better than troops just gunning people down, but for a modern, supposedly civilized country it's…

You are aware that these LRAD systems have been used against US citizens, aren't you?

[deleted]

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were at a protest that was starting to get a bit rowdy and somebody used one of these on you, what would you do? I'd either come back prepared for actual violence, or switch from protest to sabotage. It just screams "escalation" to me.

Are chemical irritants preferable, then? Or just LEOs in riot gear with rubber batons? There's no amount of pushback or repercussion that a rioter will feel is fair or humane, and the mindset of "I'll turn violent and/or destructive if my participation in civil unrest is punished" is a perfect justification for these systems to exist.

maybe the government should consider protestor demands and reform in many cases

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#128
post #19

LRADs have been used against protesters in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France, and Germany.

I don't necessarily dispute that claim, but do you have evidence to support it ?

It's extensively covered on the wikipedia page alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_acoustic_device#Uni...

Also if you just google "LRAD use in [country]" there are source for any country you're actually wondering about...

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#129
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be rational if you would think killing a few (or a lot of) protesters will intimidate the rest of the country into submission. It didn't, but it could have.

But nobody thinks that way. If they can kill your friends, they can round you up afterwards and kill you. Once it gets to that point, there's no reason not to immediately organize a military response.

Hold on to that thought we're going to need it this summer.

Re: Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

their first thought was maybe that used again riot or violence in the first place not necessarily to attack people I mean its just moral Highground at this point, same can be said for Oppenheimer if he didn't do it maybe war that more costly would occur

Can you have the moral high ground if you're using violence against your people?

well if they turn out out to be violence and can be destructive (they called riot), yes they can
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