From the land of awesome and WTF comes word of a sound canon called a LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) being used to break up recent rowdy protesters at the Pittsburgh G20 Summit. Normally used on Navy boats against the likes of Somali pirates, this was the first known use of the LRAD against U.S. citizens.
Police used the device to emit a painful shrill that forced demonstrators to cover their ears and withdraw while police threw tear gas and stun grenades.
This definitely increases the cool factor of more conventional crowd control tactics, however I still find a good water hosing or bean bag gun pelting pretty amusing too.
[Gizmodo]
