Beans meanz crimes for eco extremists

At least a dozen 4x4s and sports cars across south Edinburgh have had their tyres deflated as part of a climate change protest.

Vandals have been removing dustcaps from the cars' tyres, placing the tiny green beans next to the valves and replacing the caps, leaving the tyres to deflate slowly .

The unnamed group chose yesterday for their latest strikes to coincide with a worldwide Fossil Fools day aimed at raising awareness of the impact that gas-guzzling cars have on the growing climate change problem.

Range Rovers, Land Rovers, Jeeps and Porsches were among the cars targeted in the Grange.

Activists today made claims on the internet that they had deflated the tyres on 34 vehicles in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police chiefs today branded the attacks as "irresponsible" and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

One of the activists' victims was Grange-based Evening News columnist Helen Martin (pictured above). Her Nissan Terrano had all four of its tyres deflated.

She said: "It is completely irresponsible. What if one of these people had to dash out of the house on an emergency and they got outside to find their car vandalised like this.

"The stupid thing is they are trying to make a point about the environment, but you had the recovery vans here with their engines running – and my engine running for up to an hour so we could use the compressor to reinflate the tyres." One Grange Loan resident, who had four tyres on her Range Rover deflated, but asked not to be named, added: "The first we knew about it was when we came out in the morning.

"It is really dangerous – people could have jumped in their cars when the tyres were still deflating and be none the wiser."

Similar protests have taken place in London over the last few days, and it is thought activists have copied the tactics of a group in Sweden, where more than 1000 4x4s have been targeted in recent months.

A message on the internet posted by the group claiming responsibility for the attacks said: "We chose only rich people's vehicles to symbolise how the wealthy and powerful are mainly responsible for the destruction of our planet."

In 2006 the Edinburgh Alliance Against Urban Four by Fours targeted hundreds of vehicles with fake parking tickets. The tickets were headed Poor Vehicle Choice and contained information detailing the environmental impact of the offending car.

Gregory Norminton, a spokes-man for the group, today distanced himself from the mung bean activists.

He said: "This is obviously something we do not condone in any way and it is frankly dangerous and irresponsible to tamper with the safety of a vehicle."

Lothian and Borders Police said it was investigating 12 reported incidents and was appealing for witnesses.

A police spokesman said: "This type of irresponsible behaviour cannot be tolerated, and anyone caught illegally deflating the tyres on any vehicle – be that a 4x4 or otherwise – will be dealt with appropriately."