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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Polly Toynbee

When is a vandal not a vandal? When they’re attacking Ulez cameras, say desperate Tory MPs

A vandalised Ulez camera in Harefield, outer London, 30 August 2023
A vandalised Ulez camera in Harefield, outer London, 30 August 2023. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock

This was “crime week” on the Tory grid, but the party of law and order is no more. Tories now do like dictators, passing draconian laws against the freedom to protest but flouting them for protesters of their own political ilk.

Self-styled “blade runners” claim to have so far destroyed 600 cameras of the 3,000 needed to enforce the new Ulez – ultra-low emission zone – now covering all of Greater London. The Mail, Telegraph and Sun have been whooping up the actions of “Captain Gatso” and his balaclavaed vandals as they tear down cameras and cut cables. The Sun reports anti-Ulez exploits along with its “Give Us A Brake campaign to slow down the government’s ruinous race to net zero”. The Telegraph quotes a vigilante describing his night-time vandalism as “unpaid voluntary work for the community”.

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