Serbian officials deny illegal sonic weapon attack on peaceful protesters

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian officials denied Sunday that security forces used a military-grade sonic weapon to disperse and scare protesters at a huge anti-government rally in the capital.

Opposition officials and Serbian rights groups claimed the widely banned acoustic weapon that emits a targeted beam to temporarily incapacitate people was used during the protest Saturday. They say they will file charges with the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts against those who ordered the attack.

Serbia has not denied that it has the acoustic device in its arsenal.

At least 100,000 people descended on Belgrade on Saturday for a mass rally seen as a culmination of monthslong protests against Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.

The rally was part of a nationwide anti-corruption movement that erupted after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s north in November, killing 15 people.

Almost daily demonstrations that started in response to the tragedy have shaken Vucic’s decade-long firm grip on power in Serbia where many blame the crash on rampant government corruption, negligence and disrespect of construction safety regulations, demanding accountability for the victims.

Footage from the rally show people standing during 15 minutes of silence for the rail station disaster while suddenly experiencing a whooshing sound that immediately triggered panic and a brief stampede.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene said people started scrambling for cover, leaving the middle of the downtown street almost empty as they started falling over each other.

Those exposed to the weapon experience sharp ear pain, disorientation and panic, military experts say. Prolonged exposure can cause eardrum ruptures and irreversible hearing damage.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, a non-governmental organization, condemned “the unlawful and inhumane deployment of prohibited weapons, such as acoustic devices, against peaceful protesters.”

“This act represents a blatant display of force and an attempt to incite chaos, aiming to delegitimize protests and criminalize peaceful citizens,” the group said.

Serbian police and the defense ministry denied that the illegal weapon was used.

The Serbian president on Sunday urged judicial authorities to respond to the information "that sonic cannons were used during the protests," the state RTS broadcaster reported.

“I am asking … the ministry of justice and the prosecutor’s office to react, either to prosecute those who used it, and we know they didn’t but let’s check," Vucic said. “Let there be a proceeding but then they should also prosecute those who went public with such a notorious lie.”

Belgrade’s emergency hospital has denied reports that many people sought help after the incident and urged legal action against those who “spread untrue information.”

People use the lights on their cell phones as they observe fifteen minutes of silence during a major anti-corruption rally led by university students in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Riot police stand guard on the side of a street during a major anti-corruption rally led by university students in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Police in riot gear walk down a street during a major anti-corruption rally led by university students in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

People welcome protesters from provinces who have arrived ahead of a major rally this weekend in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

People welcome a group of cyclists who have arrived ahead of a major rally this weekend in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

People hold the lights on their cell phones as they attend a protest ahead of a major anti-corruption rally this weekend, in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Protesters light flares as they gather ahead of a major rally this weekend in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Protesters march during a major rally against populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government, in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

People use the lights on their cell phones as they observe fifteen minutes of silence during a major anti-corruption rally led by university students in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senators from opposite parties are joining forces in a renewed push to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, an effort that has broad public support but has repeatedly stalled on Capitol Hill.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida on Thursday plan to introduce legislation, first shared with The Associated Press, that would bar lawmakers and their immediate family members from trading or owning individual stocks.

It's the latest in a flurry of proposals in the House and the Senate to limit stock trading in Congress, lending bipartisan momentum to the issue. But the sheer number of proposals has clouded the path forward. Republican leaders in the House are pushing their own bill on stock ownership, an alternative that critics have dismissed as watered down.

“There’s an American consensus around this, not a partisan consensus, that members of Congress and, frankly, senior members of administrations and the White House, shouldn’t be making money off the backs of the American people,” Gillibrand said in an interview with the AP on Wednesday.

Trading of stock by members of Congress has been the subject of ethics scrutiny and criminal investigations in recent years, with lawmakers accused of using the information they gain as part of their jobs — often not known to the public — to buy and sell stocks at significant profit. Both parties have pledged to stop stock trading in Washington in campaign ads, creating unusual alliances in Congress.

The bill being introduced by Gillibrand and Moody is a version of a House bill introduced last year by Reps. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, and Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island. That proposal, which has 125 cosponsors, would ban members of Congress from buying or selling individual stocks altogether.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida tried to bypass party leadership and force a vote on the bill. Her push with a discharge petition has 79 of the 218 signatures required, the majority of them Democrats.

House Republican leaders are supporting an alternative bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from buying individual stocks but would not require lawmakers to divest from stocks they already own. It would mandate public notice seven days before a lawmaker sells a stock. The bill advanced in committee Wednesday — which Luna called “a win” — but its prospects are unclear.

Magaziner and other House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, wrote in a joint statement Wednesday that they “are disappointed that the bill introduced by Republican leadership today fails to deliver the reform that is needed.”

The Senate bill from Gillibrand and Moody would give lawmakers 180 days to divest their individual stock holdings after the bill takes effect, while newly elected members would have 90 days from being sworn in to divest. Lawmakers would be prohibited from trading and owning certain other financial assets, including securities, commodities and futures.

“The American people must be able to trust that their elected officials are focused on results for the American people and not focused on profiting from their positions,” Moody wrote in response to a list of questions from the AP.

The legislation would exempt the president and vice president, a carveout likely to draw criticism from some Democrats. Similar objections were raised last year over a bill that barred members of Congress from issuing certain cryptocurrencies but did not apply to the president.

Gillibrand said the president “should be held to the same standard” but described the legislation as “a good place to start.”

“I don’t think we have to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” Gillibrand said. “There’s a lot more I would love to put in this bill, but this is a consensus from a bipartisan basis and a consensus between two bodies of Congress.”

Moody, responding to written questions, wrote that Congress has the “constitutional power of the purse” so it's important that its members don't have “any other interests in mind, financial or otherwise.”

“Addressing Members of Congress is the number one priority our constituents are concerned with,” she wrote.

It remains to be seen if the bill will reach a vote in the Senate. A similar bill introduced by Gillibrand and GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri in 2023 never advanced out of committee.

Still, the issue has salience on the campaign trail. Moody is seeking election to her first full term in Florida this year after being appointed to her seat when Marco Rubio became secretary of state. Gillibrand chairs the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.

“The time has come," Gillibrand said. “We have consensus, and there’s a drumbeat of people who want to get this done.”

FILE -Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., speaks during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

FILE - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., leaves the Senate chamber after voting on a government funding bill at the Capitol in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)