BELGRADE – Serbian officials were forced to admit on Wednesday, 19 March, that there was a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) on the streets of Belgrade on 15 March, which they had previously denied. However, they maintain that it was not used as a “sound cannon” against the protesters. The prosecution, which has launched an investigation into the event, has not provided an alternative explanation of the scenes seen at the protest.
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. Thousands 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” (LRAD) – against the crowd. The use of such a device is illegal in Serbia.
Protesters have accused the government of attempting to cause a stampede, which was luckily averted. Many have since described the event as state-sponsored terrorism.
Multiple inconsistencies in the official story
The government official immediately denied that LARD was used on the protesters. Ivica Dačić, Minister of Interior and long-time coalition partner of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), said on 17 March that the police had “never used a sound cannon or illegal devices, nor will it”. Representatives of the Serbian Army and the security services also denied having used a sound cannon.
However, media reporting in the coming days confirmed that there was more to this story. On 18 March, Ivica Dačić confirmed for the daily Danas that the Serbian police did buy Long Range Acoustic Devices in 2021, but that they had never been used and that they were boxed and located in storage.
This statement also turned out to be untrue on the very next day, 19 March, when opposition politician Marinika Tepić (Freedom and Justice Party) published a photo of an LRAD attached to a police vehicle next to the building of the National Assembly during the protest on 15 March.
Beograd, subota 15. mart 2025.
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Levo – POLICIJA DRŽI ZVUČNI TOP na džipu kod Narodne skupštine države SrbijeVlast je ugrozila živote ljudi.
Upotrebili su zvučne uređaje koje su rasporedili po gradu.
Skupštinu Srbije su zato ispraznili da bi… pic.twitter.com/KCtFvWpqea— Marinika Tepić (@MarinikaTepic) March 19, 2025
The publication of the photo contradicted the statements of Vladimir Orlić, director of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) and former high-ranking member of SNS, that “nobody has noticed any device that can be called a sound-cannon, or anything similar, anywhere (on 15 March)”, including next to the National Assembly of Serbia.
In a press conference, Marinika Tepić also showed documents on the purchase of a total of 16 LRADs by the Ministry of Interior, then headed by Aleksandar Vulin, the pro-Russian coalition partner of the ruling party, in 2021. Leader of the Freedom and Justice Party Dragan Đilas stated that they would file criminal charges against President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and the SNS for terrorism against the citizens of Serbia.
Faced with these revelations, Minister of Interior Dačić once again changed his story, stating that the LRAD was indeed on the protest on 15 March, but that it never left the spot in front of the National Assembly and that it was only intended to be used as a megaphone to warn the protesters to stand back should the situation escalate.
Dačić also confirmed that the police had 16 LRADs, but that they were only used as megaphones and not as “sound cannons”. Speaking from Brussels on the same day, President Vučić once again vehemently denied that any sound device was used against the protesters, which has been his position since 15 March.
Further indications of the use of a “sound cannon” published by the media
Two additional media reports on 19 March raised further suspicions that sound devices were used against the protesters. First, daily Danas published a statement from an anonymous police member, who claimed that other LRADs, including the ones not attached to the vehicles, were also present at the protest.
“We were also told that a device was placed in or next to the Presidency, as well as that the tractors parked around Pioneer Park were placed precisely to deflect the impact of the cannon if the cannon were to be used because our people were also in the park,” he says.
People who reported to have felt the impact of a sound device were located in the vicinity of the Presidency.
Furthermore, on 19 March BIRN published an article in which it claims that, according to its sources, a device similar to the sound cannon was already used in Serbia in November 2023, against refugees who were forced by the police to leave a house they were located in the north of Serbia.
Also on 19 March, the manufacturer of the Long Range Acoustic Device Genasys Inc. published a statement claiming that the “video and audio evidence we have seen and heard thus far does not support the use of an LRAD during the March 15th incident in Belgrade, Serbia”.
This company cited the findings of the NGOs Crta and Earshot who, based on the preliminary analysis, concluded that a Vortex Ring Gun might have been used. Whether anybody in the Serbian security apparatus possesses this device remains unknown.