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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

#81

Post by AngryData »

tonyhart7 wrote: post #31
observationist wrote: post #27

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…

the only acceptable condition to use it maybe if there are riot or violence breakout in that area not for peaceful protest

I don't find it acceptable for any reason whatsoever.

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

#83

Post by perching_aix »

suddenclarity wrote: post #78

Are there any reputable sources confirming this? So far I've only seen random accounts on social media making the claim. The police, defence ministry and emergency hospital all deny the claim. Jeez. Getting your comment flagged for asking for a source. I'm out.

The hospitals too? Got any sources yourself for those? The government agencies denying it I don't find particularly damning, because it makes sense to me that they would deny it, even if they did use them.

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

#84

Post by Oarch »

suddenclarity wrote: post #78

Are there any reputable sources confirming this? So far I've only seen random accounts on social media making the claim. The police, defence ministry and emergency hospital all deny the claim. Jeez. Getting your comment flagged for asking for a source. I'm out.

I've seen a video on Reddit which would be very difficult to explain otherwise.

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

#85

Post by amelius »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #56
camilo2025 wrote: post #33

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.

What would ICC think of it, I wonder.

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

#86

Post by suddenclarity »

perching_aix wrote: post #83
suddenclarity wrote: post #78

Are there any reputable sources confirming this? So far I've only seen random accounts on social media making the claim. The police, defence ministry and emergency hospital all deny the claim. Jeez. Getting your comment flagged for asking for a source. I'm out.

The hospitals too? Got any sources yourself for those? The government agencies denying it I don't find particularly damning, because it makes sense to me that they would deny it, even if they did use them.

Associated Press wrote this:

> Belgrade’s emergency hospital has denied reports that many people sought help after the incident and urged legal action against those who “spread untrue information”.

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

#87

Post by laweijfmvo »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #56
camilo2025 wrote: post #33

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.

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?

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

#89

Post by dmurray »

impossiblefork wrote: post #77
seabass-labrax wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Attack is the best form of defence" is a well-grounded doctrine, but it's not mutually exclusive with protecting yourself. Armies use armoured vehicles even though armour-piercing shells exist, for example. It's also not always necessary; actively using force against the authorities would essentially be the start of a civil war, and personally I don't think starting a civil war is more likely to result in change tha…

Yes, but these kinds of systems are not actually very good as military weapons. They are easily countered by simply shooting the operators.

Are they? They seem easy enough to operate remotely, or by a guy in a tank or a bulletproof Popemobile or whatever.

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

#90

Post by seabass-labrax »

vvchvb wrote: post #58
mdhb wrote: post #14

I don’t think governments should have access to the “make the protestors immediately go away” button that they can just hit whenever they want.

Governments, by definition, have legal access to anything they can get their hands on.

That depends on where you put international law into this. Since 1945 it has generally been considered that there's a limit to the actions that a sovereign country can take. International law might work primarily with treaties rather than 'conventional' laws, but there are already parallels with national legal systems. We have a kind of international legislature (the United Nations General Assembly) and a judiciary (the International Court of Justice).
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