For the first time in U.S. history, this week officials used a long range acoustic device [LRAD] "sonic cannon" against U.S. civilians in Pittsburgh at the G-20 protests. Meanwhile, in Honduras, the same weapon, along with chemical warfare, assaulted the Brazilian embassy sheltering deposed President Manual Zelaya.
"The [Pittsburgh] police fired a sound cannon that emitted shrill beeps, causing demonstrators to cover their ears and back up," reported The New York Times. The YouTube video shows the blast deployment at the top of this post. While the link stays active at this CNN site, you can watch a CNN reporter attempting to communicate during one blast.
The UN Security Council called on the de facto government of Honduras to "cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy" and "condemned acts of intimidation" in response to sound device use and chemical warfare against the building.
The LRAD device, described as "a nonlethal weapon," is capable of emitting sound at a level that is capable of permanently damaging hearing and higher than the normal human threshold of pain (120-140 dB).
The audio cannon manufactured by American Technology Corporation (ATCO), a San Diego-based company. Company stock was trading up over 15 percent in heavy activity late Friday, according to DailyFinance.com.
