On August 22, 2003, Earth Liberation Front extremists set fires that damaged or destroyed dozens of SUVs at a California car dealership.
According to the Associated Press, the 5 a.m. arson resulted in at least $1 million in damage to about 20 vehicles, mostly Hummers. The fires also destroyed a warehouse.
Activists spray painted the site with graffiti and ELF-related slogans.
The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were both involved in investigating the fire. FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura told the Associated Press,
Since they’re (ELF) considered an extremist movement, by definition it falls under possible domestic terrorism violation.
Assistant fire chief and fire marshal Rick Genovese noted that if the group took its anti-pollution slogans seriously, the fire was counter-productive,
There’s a lot more pollutants from the fire than the vehicles would pollute during their lifetime. There’s hundreds of tons of pollutants that were spilled off.
Ah, but the point of ELF actions are to generate publicity and feed the egos of those committing the actions. Who cares about generating pollution or endangering people when activists need to grab some headlines?
Source:
SUVs burned as four California dealerships vandalized. Nada El Sawy, Associated Press, August 22, 2003.
