Parking avengers promise to continue, after destroying 150 parking meters and 15 radars and setting fire to three vans. To this day, cases are nothing more than complaints.
They are anonymous and since 2018 they have been claiming a wave of vandalism in Lisbon directed at EMEL and radars in the capital: they have already left around 150 parking meters unused, 15 radars broken and three EMEL vans set on fire.
The recent report shows that the group monitors the target for months and plans the attacks, which are carried out with the help of acid, expansive foam and fire. But despite the damage and documentation, there were never any arrests.
EMEL has recorded hundreds of attacks in recent years and reports material damage and even attacks on employees.
In a report delivered to the Observer, the group claims to act for revolt against what he considers institutional arbitrarinessl. They accuse EMEL and other public entities of “arrogance” which, they claim, translates into abusive billing practices and disrespectful treatment of users. Without resorting to legal processes — which they describe as slow and ineffective — the vandals decided to move to “direct action” with the explicit objective of inflicting material damage and drawing attention to this “injustice”.
The report that reached the newspaper contains hundreds of photographs and dozens of videos, and outlines a intervention map spread throughout the city — from Praça da Estrela to Campo Grande, passing through Alcântara, Benfica and several central avenues.
They believe they were never caught because they are very methodical, from choosing targets, prolonged surveillance and access trials to a defined strategy for each intervention.
And the group’s techniques changed over time: at the beginning of the anti-EMEL project, they resorted to expanding foam to clog and render the internal mechanisms of parking meters unusable; later experimented with the use of corrosive products; and then started using the fire as a method that they consider more “effective” for certain models.
They also claim to have cut power cables radars and have used other procedures to render them inoperative. They also set fire to three parked EMEL vehicles.
EMEL, contacted by the Observer, confirms that it has records of hundreds of incidents of vandalism in recent years. In addition to the material loss of thousands of euros, the company reports incidents of attacks and threats directed at employees, which led to police reports.
From a legal point of view, the acts constitute crime de danowhich can be classified as simple or qualified when they affect assets intended for public use and, in some scenarios, may involve an investigation for criminal association when it is confirmed that there is prolonged concertation with division of tasks and a common objective. But so far, what exists is a set of records and complaints, with no known public criminal outcome.
