Anarchists claim credit for damaged cars

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the original website on which anonymous anarchists took responsibility for vandalizing Chapel Hill police cars. The blog post was originally published on anarchistnews.org and then reposted by the Prison Books Collective. The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error. 

An anonymous group of local anarchists took responsibility for vandalizing Chapel Hill police cars last week.

Someone smashed in the back window of three Ford Crown Victoria cars parked at the Chapel Hill Police Department at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, according to police reports .

Another car was spray-painted. Total damage was valued at $2,200 to the four cars, which ranged in years from 2008 to 2011, the police reports state .

The anonymous anarchists posted a blog taking responsibility for the vandalism on anarchistnews.org. That blog post was then reposted on the Prison Books Collective website. The Prison Books Collective meets monthly at the Internationalist Books and Community Center to write letters to political and politicized prisoners in the United States .

Lt. Josh Mecimore, a spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police, did not return requests for comment.

Jesse Gardens , a member of the student anarchist group UNControllables, said his group wasn’t affiliated with the damaged cars, but he supports the demonstration.

Gardens said after Chapel Hill police, armed with assault rifles, arrested eight people who were occupying the Yates Motor Company building on Franklin Street, it’s good for police to know residents are watching .

“People here have a good reason to want to disable the weapons and equipment police here have,” Gardens said. “The smashing of the police cruisers sends the message that people are watching.”

The blog said the group performed the vandalism in solidarity with Georgia resident Luke O’Donovan , who was arrested and charged with five counts of aggravated assault on Jan. 1, 2013. O’Donovan’s trial drew national attention because he said he was arrested while defending himself during a homophobic attack .

O’Donovan accepted a plea deal earlier this month. He was sentenced to two years in a Georgia prison and eight years probation, which he’ll have to serve outside of Georgia.

“We hope (the vandalism) brings a smile to his face,” the blog read.

The group also said the act was done in support of the protesters who have been rioting and looting local stores in Ferguson, Mo., after police shot and killed an unarmed teen there earlier this month .

“May their insurrection spread,” the blog reads. “Both as small groups and entire neighborhoods, it is possible to fight back.”

No one has been arrested in connection with the vandalism at the police department, police data shows.

city@dailytarheel.com