A climate activist group called the Tyre Extinguishers let the air out of more than 40 SUVs' tires in an affluent Boston, Massachusetts, neighborhood to protest climate change.
"Great action by the new TX Boston group who last night took out 43 SUVs in the Beacon Hill area, one of the wealthiest areas of the city," the eco group tweeted Thursday.
On its website, the group explains how to deflate an SUV "tyre," using the British spelling for tire, and advises avoiding "cars clearly used for people with disabilities, traders' cars (even if they're large), minibuses, and normal-sized cars."
Hybrid and electric vehicles, however, are "fair game," the group states.
"We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis – there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone's car and the mining of these metals causes suffering," the website reads. "Plus, the danger to other road users still stands, as does the air pollution (PM 2.5 pollution is still produced from tyres and brake pads)."
The group also shared a printable leaflet that can be left on victims' windshields that explains the motive behind the tire deflations: "Your gas guzzler kills."
"We are defending ourselves against climate change, air pollution, and unsafe drivers," Tyre Extinguishers asserts on its website.
According to the Boston Globe, Boston police responded to 10 separate victims Thursday, spread across a few blocks of Beacon Hill, whose tires had been deflated. Citing a police report, the Globe reported that no tires had been punctured.
At least one victim was unable to get to a medical appointment, according to the report.
The climate group claims that SUVs are a "disaster for our health, our public safety, and our climate.
"Bigger and bigger cars are dominating our towns and cities, and all so a privileged few can flaunt their wealth," the group says on its website. "Because governments and politicians have failed to protect us from this danger, we must protect ourselves."
Last June, the group claimed responsibility for a strike on 40 SUVs on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, leaving leaflets on the windshields of vandalized vehicles.
Initially begun in the United Kingdom, Tyre Extinguishers groups have formed in the U.S., Austria, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, and New Zealand, according to the activists. Actions in the U.K. have taken place in London, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Manchester.
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