""Australian Police Confirm Use of LRAD Sonic Weapon at Protest Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates"
https://www.theepochtimes.com/australian-police-confirm-use-of-lrad-sonic-weapon-at-protest-against-covid-19-vaccine-mandates_4280693.html
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February 15, 2022
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing have confirmed the use of a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)—often regarded as a sonic weapon—at the massive protest against vaccine mandates in Canberra on Feb. 12, despite the Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner describing the crowd as “well behaved.”
“ACT Policing has deployed several types of loudspeakers and amplification devices to quickly and effectively convey voice messages to large, and often loud, crowds of people during the recent protest activity in Canberra,” an ACT Policing spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times on Feb. 16.
“The [LRADs] were only used to convey spoken-word messages. The ‘alert’ function was not used.”
LRADs, also known as acoustic weapons or sound cannons, are used to project very loud sounds over long distances. While the voice function can be helpful to communicate in loud settings, the device’s most dangerous setting, the alert function, can cause brain damage, permanent hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, and disorientation.
A fact sheet by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the technology is used for crowd control by emitting loud and painful levels of noise that may lead to significant harm to the ears.
The LRADs work by using hundreds of transducers to create a highly concentrated and amplified sound that can be narrowed to focus on specific targeted areas. Similar devices were used by the U.S. military in Iraq in 2004.
Photos and videos circulating on social media show the LRADs positioned at the front of Parliament House facing towards the location of tens of thousands of protesters, made up of individuals and families with children, on the lawns opposite.
Protest attendees have since taken to social media to complain about symptoms they say are a result of the LRADs. However, The Epoch Times has not been able to independently verify these claims.
