Notes that professed to come from a hard-left “resistance collective” appeared on the windshields of SUV cars that had their tyres deflated overnight in a German city, as activists also attempted to shut down the railway network.
Over 40 and perhaps as many as 60 large personal vehicles were tampered with in the port city of Hamburg, Germany, overnight into Monday morning. Police reacted after many in the city awoke to find their ride to work had flat tyres, and in many cases a flyer left on the windshield advertising the fact.
Per a report in Germany’s Die Welt, the notes to owners was signed off “resistance collective” and said the Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were targeted because of pollution, and because they were perceived as being more dangerous to children on foot. The group is reported to have boasted of having deflated the tyres on 60 SUVs overnight, with police saying they were aware of at least 40 instances, and that they weren’t sure whether any crimes had actually been committed.
The weekend was a busy one for local leftists in Hamburg, who as well as targeting motorists for having chosen an unapproved type of vehicle, were also after German defence giant Rheinmetall, and the broader Western armed forces.
Hard-left direct action group the “Disarm Rheinmetall” alliance published a call-to-arms on a prominent extremist bulletin board demanding resistance to militarism, stating they call upon:
…all war-averse neighbourhoods, organized groups, artists, students, parents… [to] disrupt the military manoeuvres, cripple war logistics, make military cooperation visible, refuse to conform to the status quo, protect civilian infrastructure, betray the logic of war, defend the right to the city: there are many goals – come up with something that disturbs, irritates, delights, that breaks free from the logic of military discipline and toughness, that helps us unlearn war.
In apparent answer to this call, Die Welt states in its report that left-wing activists blocked the railway lines leading to the city docks in protest against Rheinmetall itself, in an attempt to prevent exports of the company’s products by ship.
The SUV tyre-slashing trick is one already well familiar from the European hard left. Breitbart News reported in 2022 on a spate of such direct action, including the Deflationists, and the Tyre Extinguishers groups in Britain which claimed to have let down the tyres of over 2,000 SUVs across several cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Bristol and Edinburgh.
The group said in a flyer left on sabotaged vehicles: “ATTENTION – your gas guzzler kills… We did this because driving around urban areas in your massive vehicle has huge consequences for others… You’ll have no difficulty getting around without your gas guzzler, with walking, cycling, or public transport.”
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