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G20 Protesters Blasted By "Sound Cannon"
aaandre sends word of the use of a "sound cannon" on G20 protesters in Pittsburgh. Only a few hundred protesters took to the streets. The NY Times notes: "City officials said they believed it was the first time the sound cannon had been used publicly." The device projects a narrow beam of extremely annoying sound, at levels that can reach 151 decibels, over a distance of a mile or more. The Guardian notes, "It is feared the sounds emitted are loud enough to damage eardrums and even cause fatal aneurysms." Officials of the company that manufactures the sound cannon say that ear damage is only possible if someone manages to stand directly in front of the device for an extended period.
When they start mounting these to the front of congress and the senate, we're screwed.
"It is feared the sounds emitted are loud enough to damage eardrums and even cause fatal aneurysms." "
The professional protesters who travel from place to place to riot every time this (or similar) meetings are held seem to exhibit little fear. Look at the video on the first link. Several photographers didn't even bother to put down their cameras.
If you stand within 30 feet and remain stationary it might damage your ear drums, but because the beam is very focused its and vary directional its easy to get out of the way.
ALL of the citations of "fatal aneurysms" point back to a single reporter named "Kim Dvorac" who cited un-named sources from the department of defense.
The protesters will simply show up with earplugs next time, and continue to smash store fronts, and torch cars, as usual. Apparently thats ok.
But lets not cause them any discomfort. After all, if this device is used on terrorists, it must be a terrorist weapon. It shouldn't be uses on people who merely show up and trash your city. Can't have that.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
They'll have to be some premium earplugs to even manage getting the level down to 125dB, which is still very unpleasant. There is no mention of the frequency involved... very high and low frequencies are not attenuated very much by most earplugs.
This is human rights abuse, plain and simple.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
What is the big deal. Can't people go outside and shout about something they don't like? Is it necessary to disperse every crowd? Do we just have to repeat the Boston Massacre over and over again on ever increasing scales for the past 200 years?
Is the government just trying to provoke violence to justify more totalitarian actions? Is the supreme court taking a nap and won't hear cases that would limit the amount of intervention that can occur with a protest?
Will people just have to start bringing a case of molotovs to every protest so they can maintain the protest long enough to have some effect and some media coverage? Violence should be a last resort, but without a right to public protest what other options exist?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Why don't you tell that to the 150 or so police officers in Seattle that were permanently disabled during the last summit in america?
zosxavius photography
They've already used rubber bullets, batons, and fucking tear gas... A friend of mine has been out there for the majority of this week. Seeing that they only just used this now it's pretty pathetic.
Would your friend rather that they used real bullets?
I don't like Linux. This doesn't make me a troll.
So let me get this straight...
You want mexican refugees to go through legal channels that are just as full of bullshit as the ones they're trying to get away from back home?
"those people" are usually undercover policemen.
Bullshit.