Dizziness and irreversible hearing damage: Serbian government reportedly uses military-grade weapon to deter protests

BarcelonaNot even the Serbs who had attended the historic protest for the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 could remember a more multitudinous demonstration than the one that happened in Belgrade this Saturday. Between 500,000 and 700,000 people—according to the organization—took to the streets to protest against corruption, lack of transparency, and the negligent management of infrastructure by the government of pro-Russian Aleksandar Vucic.

The outrage is not new. Authorities have faced almost daily demonstrations since November, when fifteen people died when the roof of a station collapsed in Novi Sad, the country's second-largest city, in a disaster that many blame on rampant corruption. At the time of the collapse, the station had been open for barely two weeks after construction work that had cost the public coffers 65 million euros. It was the final straw for outrage and catalyzed a wave of protests led by students who precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic. But they didn't have enough.

With the slogan "15 for 15"—a reference to the fifteen dead and the March 15th date on which the demonstration was held—this Saturday's demonstration demanded the resignation of President Vucic and brought out the most unfriendly side of his government. As protesters observed 15 minutes of silence in honor of the fifteen people killed in the Novi Sad station accident in November, a sudden, shrill boom from a sound device caused the crowd to disperse and temporarily incapacitated the demonstrators. Several local organizations claim that it was a sound cannon, a long-range acoustic device for military use and widely banned due to its potential health effects, including dizziness and permanent acoustic damage. A claim confirmed by several military experts consulted by local media, who add that the sound emitted by the device can reach a volume of up to 160 dB.

And although both the Serbian president and the country's interior minister have denied the use of such systems, more than half a million citizens have signed a petition addressed to the UN, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe calling for an international investigation to be opened. Likewise, opposition parties, which claim that it was indeed a long-range acoustic device, have announced that they will file charges with the European Court of Human Rights.

The Belgrade Center for Security Policy, a non-governmental organization, has condemned what it considers "the illegal and inhumane deployment of prohibited weapons, such as acoustic devices, against peaceful protesters." This think tank An independent security expert confirms to ARA that the use of acoustic devices is not provided for in the current police law and is therefore illegal. However, he warns that a bill is being drafted that seeks to legalize the use of this device, which is used in some countries to disperse and control demonstrations through very annoying sounds that can cause panic.

Some witnesses present at the protests report that they were even rendered unconscious by the dizziness: "I heard a sound like a roar, which seemed like the sound of a missile, and two explosions. I also heard an inexplicable sensation throughout my body."

Vucic, a lesser evil for Brussels

But President Vucic doesn't seem to have accepted the message. Shortly after the call for elections, which he called a "color revolution," he stated that he would only leave power "if they killed him." And, despite the success of the protests, the claim of the nationalist leader, who has controlled Serbian politics since 2012, doesn't seem so far-fetched. The country's opposition is too fragmented, divided, and poorly organized to capitalize on its capacity for mobilization through parliamentary power, and, conversely, the clientelist system promoted by Vucic's party, the SNS, is too entrenched to make him lose. the popular support base that sustains it.

Given this scenario, European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier has called for a "swift, transparent, and credible" investigation into the allegations about the alleged sound cannon. But nothing suggests that Brussels' actions go beyond words. Europe has long been forced to tolerate Aleksandar Vucic out of necessity: it's up to him to make it work. The lithium extraction project in the Jadar Valley - which should guarantee lithium for European car batteries- and it is a good card to soften diplomatic ties with Moscow and Beijing (a major investor in the region), Now that things are going badly with the White House.