The largest protest in the history of Serbia on 15 March was marked by disturbing videos of the crowd abruptly dispersing from a street in downtown Belgrade during 15 minutes of silence for the 15 victims of the Novi Sad tragedy. Hundreds of witnesses described a sound akin to a passing plane or a train descending on them, which caused significant distress, panic and numerous injuries.
This description has led to accusations of the authorities for using a form of acoustic device – specifically the so-called “sound cannon” – against the crowd. The state officials have vehemently denied the claims but failed to provide alternative explanations for the videos.
In 2022, the media reported that Serbian police had acquired the “sound cannon”, a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) which is used for crowd control during protests. Due to its adverse effects on health, the use of LRAD is illegal in many countries, including Serbia, where the amednments aiming to legalize its use were withdrawn in late 2022.
The protest on 15 March was a culmination of student-led protests demanding accountability for the Novi Sad tragedy, with conservative estimates of around 300,000 participants.
Several commentators pointed out that the sound cannon was used at the same time as hooligans close to the ruling party attempted to provoke incidents, interpreting it as a coordinated attempt to incite chaos at the otherwise peaceful protests, which ultimately failed. This theory is yet to be confirmed.
The students in the blockade, who are leading the country-wide movement demanding justice following the Novi Sad tragedy, accused the authorities of using a sound cannon.
“You fired a cannon at our love and empathy. With each of your evil deeds, you are expanding and strengthening the front against yourself. Who are you?”, posted the official X account of the students in the blockade on Sunday.
Hundreds of citizens claim they experienced a menacing sound
At the time when the device was allegedly activated, thousands of people were standing peacefully on King Milan Street, in downtown Belgrade, observing 15 minutes of silence for the victims in Novi Sad. Numerous videos from the event show the crowd abruptly dispersing to the sidewalks without apparent reason.
Evo još jednog ugla “kakav zvučni top, ništa nije bilo” momenta. pic.twitter.com/a1YNcSzUx8
— Biljana Lukić (@BiljanaLuki) March 16, 2025
A group of civil society organizations collected testimonials from the people who were present in the street, who described hearing a “strong acoustic strike, followed by the wave of heat or wind”, “a strong roar akin to an aeroplane engine or a train in a tunnel”, “a feeling that an invisible force is descending on the mass, causing panic and instinctive fear”.
“Somewhere behind us it suddenly sounded like a building or a huge block of stone had fallen from the sky. Me and my friend immediately looked at each other and asked – what’s going on?”, one of the citizens told portal Raskrikavanje.
She added that, at the same time, “you have the feeling that it is coming towards you, that something is going to step on you from behind, so you run from the side – and yet you have the feeling that you will die anyway because it is huge and it will cut us all down”.
Some videos released from the event indeed feature an eerie sound coming at the protesters.
Uzeo sam ovaj snimak sa Instagram stranice tulumbian da bih vam dočarao o kakvom se jezivom zvuku radi
Pojačajte pic.twitter.com/1UK0uciGr6
— dečko loših muzičarki (@nixonbelgrade) March 16, 2025
On 16 March, the day after the protest, several media outlets including N1 and Vreme reported that many people were checking into the hospital with the symptoms of dizziness, headache, nausea, tinnitus and even heart problems, which might be connected with the supposed activation of the acoustic device. The exact number of these people has not been determined.
Multiple people also reported experiencing anxiety and panic during the event and being left shaken afterwards.
Experts, civil society and the opposition accuse the authorities of activating an illegal sound device
Military analyst Aleksandar Radić was among the first to assess that what was used during the protest was a “sound cannon”, i. e. the Long-Range Acoustic Device, which he claims that the security system of Serbia possesses. Several other commentators also assessed that this device was used.
In a press conference on 17 March, opposition politician Miroslav Aleksić claimed that the sound cannon, which exists in the storage of the Gendarmerie, was taken over by the Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) several days before the protest and was tested in the base of the Gendarmerie in Rakovica. He also claimed that BIA activated it on 15 March at around 19:10 and asked the institutions to confirm these claims.
Igor Bandović, Director of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, a think tank, posted on his X account on Sunday that a “counter-revolution was supposed to happen yesterday around 19:00 with the shooting of the sound cannon at the people, and then the reaction of the police to the scripted incidents in front of the National Assembly”.
Bandović wrote that the arrests of opposition leaders were planned as well, but that “something in the system broke down” because policemen at the scene refused to react as planned and the students quickly moved the protesters away from this area.
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy issued a statement condemning “the unlawful and inhumane deployment of prohibited weapons, such as acoustic devices, against peaceful protesters”.
“We demand they publicly disclose information about the weapons used, who issued the order for their deployment, and who executed it. Furthermore, we emphasise the necessity of establishing an independent commission to objectively investigate the unlawful use of these weapons”, the statement reads.
Several other actors called for an investigation into the incident, including the University of Belgrade and the protesting students. A petition launched by the opposition organisation “Kreni-promeni” asking for an UN-led investigation into the incident was signed by 500,000 people as of 17 March.
Authorities vehemently deny using a “sound cannon”, but fail to provide an alternative explanation
Since the protest on Saturday, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić addressed the public three times, each time denying that a sound cannon was used and condemning those claiming that in public for spreading fake news.
In a video address posted on his Instagram account on 17 March, Vučić called the story about the “sound cannon” “the biggest lie”. He accused the protesters of sending their activists to the hospitals to fake symptoms of being hit with the sound cannon.
“Why is this necessary, dear citizens? Well, they were doing that at Maidan (in 2014). Do you remember the accusation that Yanukovych brought men with snipers who shot at the people? Along the same lines, they started with the accusation of ‘Vučić, you shot at your own citizens’, although nobody was hurt, nothing happened to anybody, but you have to make things up”, Vučić said.
He announced that the investigation into what happened will be over “within 48 hours” and that the ones who spread misinformation will be sanctioned.
The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence and BIA have also denied using the sound cannon since Saturday. However, nobody from the state institutions has provided an alternative explanation of what happened during the protest.
On 16 March, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it was ordering the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office to form a case against persons for spreading panic, citing the denial of the ER had denied the claims that dozens of people were admitted for the consequences of the “so-called sound cannon”.
On the same day, the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade launched an investigation into the events of 15 March.