Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/35/3582.asp

9/11/2011

France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, UK: Speed Cameras Torched, Destroyed
Speed cameras around the world torched, spraypainted and toppled in the past week.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, vigilantes last week pulled down a "Saher" speed camera pole, leaving the inner workings strewn across the street. Residents walking past gathered around the wreckage, some smiling. Nobody reported seeing anything to the police, Al Weeam reported. In Abha, an unidentified man shot at the private employee sitting in a Saher vehicle earlier this week, according to the Arab News. In December, three men in military uniforms and two others had attacked a pair of speed camera van drivers.

On Tuesday, vigilantes in Rivarolo Mantovano, Italy burned a newly installed speed camera on Bozzolo Street. The orange plastic outer shell of the device was all that was left, melted into the ground, from the blaze. Despite the road being busy, no passing motorists bothered reporting the fire. Police have no suspects, according to Gazzetta di Mantova. In Bologna, vigilantes on Thursday set fire to blankets to take out the speed camera on the Via Zenzalino, Il Resto Del Carlino reported.

On Tuesday at around 5am, a speed camera was set on fire in Ainsdale, England. The device on Liverpool Road So far in 2011, Lincolnshire expects to pay £300,000 (US $475,000) to repair speed cameras after being hit by vigilantes, BBC News reported. So far, seventeen cameras have been attacked in the area. On August 24, a camera on the A17 in Cranwell was set on fire just before midnight. Also on the A17 in Whaplode, an automated ticketing machine burned around 3:30am on September 4.

In Ardennes, France, a speed camera in Vouziers was spraypainted orange last weekend, L'Union reported. On Saturday, 800 members of the French Federation of Angry Bikers held a rally which included setting a speed camera effigy on fire. The protesters also masked two real speed cameras, one on the ring road and the other on the Avenue of the Pyrenees, La Depeche reported.