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The "Tire Extinguishers" Are an Inspiration, People Now Scratch SUVs and Slash Their Tires

Environmental activists are actively focusing on SUVs. They don’t like big, heavy cars. Invoking various reasons, people began “disarming” them by letting air out of the vehicle's tires. But things are changing. The Tyre Extinguishers gained a lot of driver attention with their movement and convinced others to go beyond the deflating part of things – apparently, now it’s about slashing and scratching.
SUV Scratched by Anonymous Environmental Activists 11 photos
Photo: Sophie Quintart on Facebook
SUV with Deflated TiresSUV with Deflated TiresSUV with Deflated TiresSUV with Deflated TiresWarning Message for SUV DriversDeflated SUV TireDeflated SUV TireActivist Deflating an SUV TireThe Message Left for Owners to ReadPhoto Marking the First Such Action in the U.S.
The Tyre Extinguishers (a British-based organization) argue SUVs are unnecessarily big, use too much fuel, and are a danger to pedestrians and other traffic participants. That’s mostly why a movement began in the UK to deflate SUV tires, which rapidly spread to the U.S. and other Western countries. Activists say they’re “disarming” these types of vehicles, even though all they’re doing is causing trouble that, in the end, leads to more resource consumption.

Nonetheless, groups of environmental activists took part in such operations in multiple countries. But what started as a movement with the sole goal of warning owners about the dangers their vehicles pose to society is now turning into international criminal activity that’s spreading rapidly.

Fortunately, the environmental activists didn’t escalate the whole situation in the U.S. It happened in Belgium, where SUV owners reported multiple acts of vandalism. According to BX1, people living in the Watermael-Boitsfort area woke up last Friday morning to find their SUVs with slashed tires and messages scratched on the doors of their vehicles.

A picture shared on Facebook by one of the victims reads “SUV climaticide,” hinting at what we’ve said previously about people that don’t want to see big cars on the road anymore.

But mistakes have happened. Not knowing what types of cars they should precisely act against, some activists deflated crossover tires or targeted fuel-efficient hybrids and zero-tailpipe emission EVs.

Moreover, deflating a tire could lead to only a ticket. But damaging someone's property could, in some jurisdictions, mean jail time. Vandalism is not something authorities will ignore - not in Europe nor in the U.S.

The official Twitter account of The Tyre Extinguishers shared this news and added “Oh hey Brussels!” as the post’s description. Initially, it was published on their profile without any comment. Normally, they tell everyone involved in this movement to not damage people’s cars and continue to argue that letting air out of the tires does no real damage.

Unfortunately for some Belgians, they must now worry about where they park at night. Police say the activists acted in the dark and don’t have any way of identifying the perpetrators for now. However, an investigation has been started.

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About the author: Florin Amariei
Florin Amariei profile photo

Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one.
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