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Hong Kong protests: police use controversial anti-riot sound device for first time, rejecting claims it is harmful
- Police spokesman confirms force deployed a long-range acoustic device, installed on top of a Unimog armoured vehicle, to issue warnings to rioters
- System does not cause dizziness, nausea or a loss of sense of direction as some reports claim, he says
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Hong Kong police have for the first time used a controversial anti-riot sound device they bought 10 years ago, rejecting claims by activists that it is a weapon that can cause harm.
A low-frequency “woo-woo” sound could be heard coming from a police armoured vehicle on Sunday, according to reporters covering intense clashes between radical anti-government demonstrators and police near Polytechnic University in Hung Hom.
A police spokesman confirmed the force had deployed a long-range acoustic device (LRAD), installed on top of a Unimog armoured vehicle, to issue warnings to rioters.
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He said the device could convey important messages over a long distance in a noisy environment and that the force stressed that it was not a weapon but a broadcasting system.
“Unlike what is said in individual media reports, the LRAD does not generate ultra-low frequency sound which will cause dizziness, nausea or a loss of sense of direction,” the spokesman said.
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