An ‘action group’ has smeared about 200 SUVs and jeeps in the center of the Belgian city of Ghent last night. The cars were covered with pamphlets and had fake blood on the bodywork. The SUVs would mean ‘a privatization of road safety’ and consume more.
It concerns the ‘activist collective Toon’ and the local ‘Anti-SUV’ group. They claim the ‘action’ themselves from an anonymous email address and claim to have tackled about 200 vehicles in Ghent last night. It is, they say, ‘biodegradable blood’. That would actually be ketchup. The action group says that both the blood and the stickers are easy to remove and that they have not caused any damage to the vehicles.
“The rise of the sports utility vehicle amounts to a privatization of road safety.” “Those who can afford the higher cost of an SUV – both in purchase price and in consumption – feel safe in their armored car, while public safety is deteriorating.” They also talk about the greater impact on the environment.
‘Completely unacceptable’
Several reports have already been received by the Ghent police. Police advise owners of contaminated vehicles to report the incident. Mayor Mathias De Clercq reacts incensed. “This is completely unacceptable and pure vandalism. You stay away from someone else’s stuff. I call on the victims to definitely report this to the police.”
In Germany, the SUV has also been under fire for some time. The political party the Greens wanted to ban SUVs from the inner cities in 2019 after an accident. According to various activist groups, the cars are too heavy, so that in the event of a collision, the victims usually fall in the other car. Pedestrians and cyclists would also be more at risk due to the angular shapes and high noses. There have been several protests against these ‘gas guzzlers’ at the IAA car fair in Frankfurt.
No major protests in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the municipal authorities of Leiden and Nijmegen, among others, tried in 2015 to levy a higher parking fee for SUVs because they would use more fuel and thus be bad for the air quality in cities. However, it never came to major protests against the SUV. In recent years, most cars are so-called crossovers, which have traits of off-road vehicles, station wagons and other body styles, but which do not necessarily consume a lot of fuel or are very heavy.
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