Anti-SUV activists used a power drill to sabotage the tyres of more than 60 4x4 vehicles at a car dealership, in an attack they described as a reprisal for the deaths of two girls in a crash at a primary school last month.
In the early hours of Monday morning, activists crept on to the forecourt of the Vertu Jaguar showroom in Exeter. They told the Guardian they went from vehicle to vehicle drilling holes in the sidewalls of all four tyres on each, so they must be replaced.
The Tyre Extinguishers claimed responsibility for the sabotage in online posts several hours later, saying that an independent cell had carried out the attack in their name. A grainy video showed at least one person on the forecourt of the dealership. The sound of a power drill could be heard as they crouched beside vehicles.
The attack was a significant escalation in tactics for the campaign, whose supporters have previously limited themselves to letting the air out of tyres by jamming lentils in the tyre valves. Thousands of vehicles in upmarket districts of cities around the world have been targeted since the campaign began last spring.
In an email circulated on Monday morning, the Tyre Extinguishers said the attack was in response to an incident in which a Land Rover crashed through a school fence into an end-of-year tea party at the Study Prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London, killing eight-year-olds Selena Lau and Nuria Sajjad, and injuring 16 others.
“This act of retaliation is intended as a peaceful and non-violent demonstration to draw attention to the presence of grossly inappropriate private vehicles in our towns and cities,” the Tyre Extinguishers said in a statement.
“Tyre Extinguishers firmly believes that their action is a necessary escalation to try and stop these vehicles from wrecking further lives and continuing to push the worsening climate crisis off the cliff edge.”
In light of the escalation of tactics, the statement added: “We are not responsible for individual actions, but simply publicise them.”
Answering the Guardian’s questions by email, an activist responsible for the action said studies had shown SUVs were eight times more likely to kill a child in a crash. “The deaths of the two young girls, in the safety of their school grounds, needed an escalation in action,” the activist, going by the pseudonym Climate Protector, said.
The activist confirmed all the vehicles targeted had been SUVs, and that they had drilled holes through the side walls of all four tyres on each vehicle targeted. “We would love to see others take up similar actions,” they said.
A spokesperson for Vertu Motors said: “Trespass and damage to private property are not acceptable. The matter is now in the hands of the police.”
Devon and Cornwall police said: “Police are aware of criminal damage having occurred at [a] Jaguar dealership in Matford, Exeter. Inquiries continue.”
