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Taller Aire, Sonido y Poder. Festival Audiovisual ZEMOS98 10a

LRAD (Sonic Weapon), uso en manifestaciones multitudinarias

By • Feb 29th, 2008 • Category: VIDEO

Video grabado en la República de Georgia, (país eurasiático localizado en la costa del Mar Negro, al sur del Cáucaso. Antigua república de la desaparecida Unión Soviética, comparte fronteras con Rusia al norte, y con Turquía, Armenia y Azerbaiyán al sur).

Georgia protests erupt in violence as police try to clear demonstrators
Nuevas protestas en Georgia contra el presidente Mikhail Saakashvili

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/acoustic-weapon.html

Then I watched the video. Shortly after minute three, I see it: No, it’s not the Active Denial System, but it is another nonlethal weapon. And it looks a heck of a lot like the Long Range Acoustic Device (or at least a knockoff), a device that emits a focused sound beam to drive people back.

There’s more footage here showing the acoustic weapon (along with a water cannon) at work. For supporters of nonlethal weaponry, having the devices used against peaceful protesters is the worst sort of PR.

Literal: (from Wired Blog)

Georgia Police Turns Sonic Blaster on Demonstrators

There’s more evidence that the Saakashvili regime in Georgia is using sound weapons against opposition protestors. This English-language footage from Russia Today shows riot police rolling through the streets of Tblisi in pickup trucks, small dishes in hand. A high frequency pulse follows. “Georgian police used an acoustic gun — it’s a non-lethal weapon that disorients people for a period of time,” says one “special weapons expert.”

“Similar such guns are also used by the Iraq police,” the Russia Today piece claims. That, I’m not so sure about. But the sonic systems — which can also be used as a long-range “hailer,” projecting sound far, far away — have been tested out by American troops in Iraq. They were employed by the New York Police Department during the last Republican National Convention — and by military police during Hurricane Katrina. A cruise ship even used a sonic blast to ward off Somali pirates in ’05.

Reader TM points out that short-range versions of the same technology can be bought online — for as little as $898 a pop.

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