Activists burn off-roaders Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Wednesday April 11 2001 The Guardian
Radical environmentalists have set fire to four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles (SUVs), worth about £1m at a dealership in Eugene, Oregon.
It is the latest arson attack by environmentalists, who have now destroyed property worth about $50m (£35m) in the US.
An anonymous communique issued yesterday through the North American press office of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for the night-time attack, in which 30 vehicles were destroyed.
It said: "Gas-guzzling SUVs are at the forefront of this vile, imperialistic culture's caravan towards self-destruction.
"We can no longer allow the rich to parade around in their armoured existence, leaving a wasteland behind in their tyre tracks. The time is right to fight back."
The same company, Romania Chevrolet, was attacked in June last year, for which two people have been arrested.
The communique also referred to those arrests.
"The techno-industrial state thinks it can stop the growing resistance by jailing some of us but they cannot jail the spirit of those who know that an other world is possible," it said.
A company spokesman said yesterday that it had received no warning before the attack.
SUVs are particularly disliked by environmentalists because they use a lot of petrol and can cause damage when driven off-road.
The sporting goods company Nike, which is based in Oregon, has attacked the ELF, which claimed responsibility for an attempt to burn down one of its shops in a mall in Albertville, Minnesota, last week. It called on other anti-globalisation groups to condemn the attack.
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