BREAKING ON MSNBC: Violence in Pittsburgh at the G20 summit. Protesters clashing with Police.

[berni_mccoy]

[Posteritatis]

1. What a shocking and entirely unexpected development! (nt)

[spinbaby]

2. I wonder how protesters got in

Pittsburgh is more or less on lockdown.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Why does it feels like the news is literally pushing for violence

in these protests???

While Bush was President, they hardly covered them.....

The last one in London was more than amply covered,
but I can't find a big one that was covered while
Bush was in office......and it is my understanding that
those were the biggest ones of all!

[BlooInBloo]

Oh boy. Is Obama there?

[alsame]

7. Just landing. MSNBC says the protests are nowhere near where

he will be.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Gah. Hope they get a better handle on whatever crackpots are there...

Better than we did here for the WTO.

[G_j]

4. 3..2..1...

time to condemn the protesters and defend sonic blasters.

:sarcasm:

[Barack_America]

5. Ack! They're using the sonic blasters!

And the freaking MSNBC idiots think they're car alarms.

But they're showing the freaking truck!

How clueless are these people?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

8. Yup. I was about to post this.

[aquart]

12. Those things need to be banned. NOW.

[Creena]

32. A preemptive ban on the Active Denial System, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System

[Fleshdancer]

13. sonic blasters??

Perhaps I'm late to the party, but I've never heard of this. Is it painful?

[G_j]

16. crowd conrol weapon

uses sound

[CrownPrinceBandar]

17. Wiki (I know) on it..........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon

apparently its not pleasant.

EDIT: its an LRAD. 142db worth of irritating sound
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device

[LeftyMom]

18. LRAD

It's painful and disorienting.

[Echo In Light]

30. The sort of thing level headed, reasonable Dems denounce as "crazy" conspiracies

[movonne]

34. Why oh why do we always blame the protesters??I just read that

the police were attacking the protesters...

[Eric J in MN]

15. We need laws against sonic blasters.

I hope no one's hearing is permanently damaged today.

[Joanne98]

23. OMG!

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. The usual "anarchists" in ski masks?

(a.k.a. agent provocateurs with government badges in their back pockets, just like in Seattle in 1999)

[BlooInBloo]

10. I saw pics of anarchy signs in the crowds they were showing - looks like a similar thing.

[PA Democrat]

33. Yeah, it's the anarchists. I'm watching on local news.

They are trying to march from the strip district part of town toward the Convention Center. The police had a line set up that they didn't want them to cross and that's where they used the pepper spray and the high pitched siren.

Local reporters are saying it is nothing on the level of what happened at the WTO, for example.

They are self-identified as the G20 Resistance Project.

No reported injuries. No broken windows, only a few dumpsters overturned. Only one arrest.

[Vinnie From Indy]

38. Gee, how convenient that they are wearing masks

One wonders how many law enforcement personel are wearing these masks.

[aquart]

11. Pittsburgh?

Why would they hold a summit in Pittsburgh?

[scheming daemons]

14. Why not?

[aquart]

19. Well, they don't seem able to cope with the stress, for one thing.

[Barack_America]

20. They were willing to spend $19 million on security.

[scheming daemons]

22. They brought in hundreds of police officers from New York City...

They'll cope just fine.

[aquart]

44. Well, sure. Now that New York is present.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. To bring money into the local economy?

[spinbaby]

24. To show off a Renaissance city

Pittsburgh went through an industrial crash to remake itself as a high-tech center that's also a wonderful place to live.

[Codeine]

28. Pittsburgh reinvented itself in a most impressive fashion.

It's not the industrial wasteland we remember.

[blm]

31. Because it's the BEST example of an environmentally turned around old city in the nation.

Thank you Teresa for leading the charge on that.

[PA Democrat]

35. The Pittsburgh Convention Center where the summit is being held is the largest

LEED certified green building in the world.

http://www.visitpittsburgh.com/meeting-planners/dlcc/

[Brickbat]

25. Are these the ones that were marching w/o a permit?

[Warpy]

26. I watched the Spanish news last night

and the newscaster was showing old footage and practically salivating over the prospect of violence in Pittsburgh.

I always wonder just who starts this stuff.

[Barack_America]

37. They feed off each other. People looking for attention and media willing to give it.

No mention of message or politics, just "scary" looking people clashing with authorities.

Frivolous fluff.

[G_j]

27. Pittsburgh Indy media link

www.indypgh.org/g20/

[Cleita]

29. Cindy Sheehan was supposed to be there. She invited all to come and

be arrested with her.

[FrenchieCat]

36. Media seems to be clearly disappointed that

there isn't more violence.

I feel so sorry for the poor news media.
How will they distract us from our Pres. doing a good job?
Well, I'm sure they'll find something.....
They always do when it comes to this President.

[Bravo Zulu]

39. The protesters have been dispersed,

the cops have won the first battle!

[joecool65]

40. Pens championship rally

The protesters are now carrying around a plastic Stanley Cup and celebrating the Penguins championship.

[Joanne98]

41. Here's what they used...The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)

The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) is a crowd-control and hailing device developed by American Technology Corporation.

According to the manufacturer's specifications, the equipment weighs 45 pounds (20 kg) and can emit sound in a 30° beam (only at high frequency, 2.5 kHz) from a device 83 centimetres (33 in) in diameter. At maximum level, it can emit a warning tone that is 146 dBSPL (1,000 W/m²) at 1 metre, a level that is capable of permanently damaging hearing, and higher than the normal human threshold of pain (120–140 dB). The maximum usable design range extends to 300 metres. At 300 metres, the warning tone (measured) is less than 90 dB. The warning tone is a high-pitched shrill tone similar to that of a smoke detector.

There appears to be some disagreement over these specifications, as some have reported measurements that differ from the manufacturer's specifications, and show reduced output with a less directive beam.

It's instructive to note that any loudspeaker of equal size will generate a beam of the same directivity as LRAD. The parameter "ka", which is the wave number multiplied by the speaker radius, is often used to characterize sound source directivity. For this source, ka=19 at 2.5kHz, and according to the LRAD data sheet, the beam angle of about 30 degrees total is precisely what is predicted for a regular loudspeaker.<1> Contrary to some beliefs, the device does not use ultrasound, nor is it a phased array; it uses an array of conventional acoustic tweeters, the same as those used in many professional audio applications, all driven together in parallel. The confusion spawns from a similar product marketed by the same company called the HyperSonic Sound.

Carl Gruenler, (former) vice president of military and government operations for American Technology Corp. (and who now runs a company making a competing device), says that being within 90 metres (98 yd) of the device is extremely painful, but its use should be limited to 270 metres (300 yd) to be effectively used. He concedes that the device is powerful enough to cause permanent auditory damage, but that it is only meant to be used for a few seconds at a time.

Countermeasures may include the use of passive hearing protection (earplugs, headsets), which may bring the sound down to ineffective levels. In addition, sound could be reflected from a solid surface, and redirected back to the originator.

Small spherical "point-source" acoustic devices follow the known inverse square law, which predicts the loss of 6 dB per doubling of distance from the source. Large speakers (or large arrays), such as these mentioned above or those commonly used in concert halls, etc., produce less loss with distance in the nearfield, typically 3-4 dB per doubling of distance from the source. The larger the speaker, and the higher the frequency, the longer the effective nearfield is (see Beranek). Devices like this generally have nearfields of only a few meters.

Contents
1 Usage
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Usage

The LRAD in use on a U.S. Navy patrol ship.
LRAD on RMS Queen Mary 2The device was originally intended to be used by American warships to warn incoming vessels approaching without permission, and some reports claim that this is now a "non-lethal weapon". Its output up to 155 db, focused at a distance, is sufficient to produce permanent ear damage and temporarily disrupt vision.<2> It may also be used simply as a very effective megaphone prior to any use as a weapon.

These devices are currently used at Camp Bucca Iraq and are being tested in regions of Baghdad, Fallujah, along with other regions of Iraq. The LRAD device was also used by police in New York City during protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention<3> and in Georgia against opposition protesters in Tbilisi on November 2007 <4><5>.

The luxury cruise ship Seabourn Spirit employed an LRAD while repelling pirates who attacked the vessel with RPGs about 160 km off the coast of Somalia in early November 2005.<6><7> The effectiveness of this device during the attack is not completely clear, but the pirates did not succeed in boarding the vessel and eventually fled.

The Liberian vessel MV Biscaglia was attacked on November 28, 2008. The security detachment aboard Biscaglia used an LRAD device in an effort to repel attackers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Following a one-sided shootout, the ship was seized and the unarmed security contractors forced to abandon ship or be killed.<8> The incident caused the usefulness of LRADs to be called into question by Lloyd's List.<9>

In February 2009, the Japanese whaling fleet operating in antarctic waters near Australia installed LRADs on their vessels. Activists of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claim that the device was used on them after they attacked the Japanese whaling fleet. <10>

The magazine Foreign Policy has revealed that LRADs have been sold to the government of the People's Republic of China. American companies have been banned from selling arms to China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, but the LRAD is described by ATC as a “directed-sounds communications system".<11>

Local residents of Pittsburgh PA witnessed LRAD in use during G20 Protests on September 24th, 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device

[Liberty Belle]

46. Anyone within 30 feet can get hearing damage, or worse. Links:.

In the photos there were clearly police and possibly others within the danger zone, it appears, unless the height of the device enabled them to blast sound over the other officers' heads. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone in Pittsburgh complains of hearing loss.

San Diego Sheriff has hauled these out at town hall forums on healthcare. Read our stories and please post comments:

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1874

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1896


Take our poll: Should sale of sonic weapons be restricted?
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1899

[Ian David]

42. Leslie says they teargassed CNN's Brian Todd

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6622689&mesg_id=6622689

[scheming daemons]

43. Cool! Now teargas some Fox News folks!

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. 1 Click from the venue, over 1000 people

per BBC

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

47. They already outdrew the Pirates! (n/m)