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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/ http
by observationist 2y ago
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/ 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 horrible to see.
The people in power are the type of people that use their power in these ways. The US shouldn't be supplying them. We're not the world police, we don't need to enforce global norms, and we shouldn't be selling hyperoffensive mass crowd control technology. They should be limited to Temu LRAD, or their LRAD at home; we shouldn't be providing them S-Tier dystopian authoritarian kits for DIY oppression.
The people that profited off of this are a special kind of evil. We shouldn't be outfitting dictators, gangsters, or warlords.
But, greed is good. The dollar is king. This is what happens when incentives and principles don't align.
- tonyhart7 2y agothe only acceptable condition to use it maybe if there are riot or violence breakout in that area not for peaceful protest
- timewizard 2y agoIt's a weapon meant to deny the use of an area by threatening non-selective permanent physical damage. There are very few legitimate civil use cases for something like that.
- Aeolun 2y agoSomething like protecting the capitol from being stormed by a mob?
- __MatrixMan__ 2y agoOnly if you want to justify the mob's presence there.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- timewizard 2y agoI might have tried just closing and locking the doors first.
- ta1243 2y agoYes because Trump's lot are too stupid to break down windows and doors https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/06/jim-himes-inside-washington-dc-protest-congress-electoral-college-vpx.cnn https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/06/jim-himes...
- timewizard 2y agoYou really believe the security of those windows in the Capitol comes down to the glass? That you're even willing to accept this proposition says something. Anyways, to my point, clearly observable in that picture are security shutters, on the sides of the window, left open and unlocked. I might have closed and locked those.
- shadowgovt 2y agoEgg on the faces of the Capitol security team for not drilling on a mob riled up by the sitting President storming the US Capitol I guess.
- alabastervlog 2y agoYou could outfit the front steps with crewed machine guns, but apparently they only do that if they expect people protesting in favor of liberal values.
- Aeolun 2y agoI thought they made these sound cannons so they didn’t have to mow down their own populace? I also feel like that’d have a counterproductive effect.
- __MatrixMan__ 2y agoIf 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.
- propagandist 2y agoAnd that is possibly the aim. When the protests turn into violence or sabotage, the state uses that to justify its own violent repression.
- tonyhart7 2y agoso you saying if there are violence or sabotage, you let these people do it??? how can that be better
- __MatrixMan__ 2y agoThey're suggesting that the point of an authority using this weapon on a mass of people may be to cause those people to become violent so that the authority can use the subsequent fear to justify further abuses. Which I think is likely, but also a bad decision. Generally speaking, the job of a legitimate government is to make violent protest unnecessary. So depending on the situation, the best action may indeed be to back down and rethink how things got there in the first place, rather than continuing to provoke more violence. Continuing to escalate is not a sustainable strategy for anyone that intends to maintain power for long, as the numbers are not generally on their side.
- tonyhart7 2y agoYeah but the problem is with mass movement people like this, there are good chance people that can take advantage of these protest (looting,rob etc) the point of these weapon is not "defeat" but mostly to crowd control right because you cant rule out if there is no crime even in peaceful protest, both things can be true at the same time also if such weapon is not permanently injure or harm people, I can see why this weapon is in need like pepper spray
- AngryData 2y agoI don't find it acceptable for any reason whatsoever.
- camilo2025 2y agoYou are aware that these LRAD systems have been used against US citizens, aren't you?
- hammock 2y agoWhen?
- alborzb 2y agoNYPD -- https://gothamist.com/news/city-settles-lawsuit-protesters-who-accused-nypd-firing-sound-cannon-them https://gothamist.com/news/city-settles-lawsuit-protesters-w...
- worldsayshi 2y agoApparently used multiple times during Black Lives Matter protests: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/06/04/2043685/0/en/Genasys-Inc-LRAD-Systems-Deployed-by-First-Responders-and-Law-Enforcement-for-Critical-Crowd-Communications.html https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/06/04/204368...
- perching_aix 2y agoHere you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_acoustic_device#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_acoustic_device#Uni... Was an especially commonly discussed topic in 2020 during the George Floyd related protests. Some notable video resources on how to defend against these devices and what one can expect: [0] and [1]. To save you time, if i remember correctly, the most effective is one of those plastic riot shields held in reverse to direct the sound back at the sender (notably pretty difficult when you don't want to just hit other protesters, or don't know where the sound is coming from and/or are getting hit by reflections). [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKTBQBugIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKTBQBugIA [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqIvak-4Ek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqIvak-4Ek
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
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- g-b-r 2y ago[flagged]
- smallmancontrov 2y agoEverything short of the worst we've ever done is totally OK? What even is this argument?
- shermantanktop 2y agoThis attempted deflection is as old as the hills. The Soviet Union spent a great deal of propaganda time talking about American slavery and Jim Crow, and it wasn’t because they cared about the issues. We call it “whatabout” now but it’s been the first defensive move when defending the indefensible for ages.
- g-b-r 2y agoNo, the argument was that thousands of innocents have been killed just in the last year, with US weapons, for no reason. While *I agree* to what was written in the post I replied to (I'm no supporter of Vucic or his buddy Putin), many other things would deserve words a thousand times heavier; and are instead not even condemned by many people here. I only meant to point out that, in the only hope that even other things get condemned at least similarly.
- heraldgeezer 2y agoAh "but the USA!!". Cant tell if you are a suburb leftie who lives there or a russian troll.
- g-b-r 2y agoNone, just someone who didn't notice the downvotes, flagging (why?) and replies before
- stefantalpalaru 2y ago[dead]
- KennyBlanken 2y ago> It's better than troops just gunning people down Except you're far more likely to use it. This is why cops don't shoot to "injure" instead of kill (also, it's hard enough for them to hit center of mass in a tense situation; there's no way they hit a leg.) It's lethal force. Which means that for its use to be legal, that person has to die because they are an imminent lethal threat to others. If injury is sufficient to resolve a situation, they weren't an imminent lethal threat. Tasers started out as a way to temporarily incapacitate someone so you didn't have to shoot them. Now they're being used as compliance and corporal punishment devices. Lots of videos out there of cops ordering people to do something while shocking them with something that makes their entire body lock up and is extremely painful. They know the person can't do what they want them to. "Stop resisting!" while tasering someone is the cop version of "stop hitting yourself!"
- kazinator 2y ago> If injury is sufficient to resolve a situation, they weren't an imminent lethal threat. That requires more explanation. An injury could render someone with lethal intent and capability unable to perform.
- pjc50 2y agoDuring the BLM protests US police realized that they could do serious injury with "nonlethal" rubber bullets. Several people lost eyes including a journalist.
- ashoeafoot 2y agoThe opposition protesting here is 1/5 of the population of the country . Its basically all people. Like 1 million protesting in a country of 5 million , is all voters between 18- 59. Russia is loosing , the rot of oligarchy is dissolving.
- ein0p 2y agoIt is impossible for Russia to "lose" in Serbia. The vast majority of Serbs support Russia, and are pissed at their government for not supporting it enough.
- gloosx 2y agoIt is very possible to juggle around with the opinions of "vast majority" like apples. Vast majority will always support the thing which a delicate minority will push into their throats via media.
- milutinovici 2y agoThis is pure nonsense. These protests have nothing to do with Russia, and everything to do with corruption
- ein0p 2y agoDid I say otherwise? I think you meant to respond to the OP who implied that Russia is somehow "losing" because of these protests. My Russian wife is telling me that they don't like Vucic either and if he were to vacate the premises no one in Moscow would shed a single tear.
- Kostic 2y agoThat's a blatant lie. We are protesting because 15 people died in Novi Sad because of corruption, 4 months ago. We want justice.
- ein0p 2y agoThat's exactly what I'm saying. These protests aren't what the OP makes them out to be, completely orthogonal to Russia.
- lijok 2y ago> We're not the world police, we don't need to enforce global norms How do you reconcile this statement with the rest of your comment in which you are advocating for enforcing global norms?
- preisschild 2y agoDisagree with "We're not the world police, we don't need to enforce global norms" Someone should definitely enforce international laws and norms and the US was in the best place to do it
- K0balt 2y agoFWIW there was some nice MILsurp LRAD kit on eBay a few years back. Looked like there was some corrosion but repairable, possibly functional in its current state. Wasn’t the truck sized one, but big enough (about 1m emitter) to do what is seen in the video. Sold for around 3000 iirc lol. I don’t think anyone knew what it was or it would have sold for a lot more. The seller had no idea, or at least wasn’t letting on if he did. So, it’s not like LRAD is controlled like SAMs or something. Also, pretty trivial to build. Idk what the IP looks like on it , but back of the napkin you can build a 1kw unit for around $7000 buying the parts at retail. The expensive bits are the transducers. Everything else is a few mosfets and MCU/software.