By Richard Diamond/Staff Reports

Vigilantes across Europe last week continued the annual tradition of ringing in the new year by knocking photo radar devices out of commission. In Concarneau, France, opponents of automated ticketing machines set fire to the speed camera on the RD783 on Sunday. Another group of vigilantes used a can of orange spraypaint to blind the speed camera on the RD338 in Bagnols. Likewise, black spraypaint was used to smear the lens of the speed camera on the RD928 in Hallines around January 2.

In Nordhausen, Germany, black spraypaint was used to disable the speed camera near the village of Ilfeld. The device also carried the phrases "anticop" and "ACAB." Around New Year's Eve, vigilantes in Lucca, Italy, blinded the speed camera on the Viale San Concordio with black spraypaint. In Dervio, two men aged 23 and 24 knocked down a newly installed speed camera on the SP67. The pair failed to get away before the camera's alarm system sounded. In Soncino, vigilantes severed the cord providing power to the speed camera ensuring nobody would be ticketed during the holidays.