Dacic displays LRAD devices

Dacic held an unscheduled news conference to say that none of the security forces used the LRAD sonic weapons that he admitted were in the possession of the police and Gendarmerie but repeated the denial that the weapon was used against protesters in Belgrade on March 15.

Dacic showed reporters a vehicle from the Novi Sad Gendarmerie detachment, the same one recorded by the parliament building at the protest. The crew demonstrated the use of the LRAD playing a message that the minister said was pre-recorded as a warning to the protesters. The Gendarmerie troopers unpacked the smaller LRAD 100X unit to play the recording.

They also showed the larger LRAD 450 XL device deployed in the vehicle but it was not operational because its batteries were dead. Dacic and the Director of Police Vasiljevic said the device was never taken out of storage. The device had to be connected to the car battery.

Dacic said that Serbian security forces are only trained to use the LRAD devices for communication with crowds. “It’s a technical tool not registered as a weapon with us. Our people are not trained for this nor would they know how to operate it to harm anyone… They only use sound as a warning to disperse demonstrations but that has never been used,” he said and added that the devices are freely available on the market and showed an Ebay ad for a second hand LRAD.