Can graffiti citizens plead
Jen Kelly
24jan06

GRAFFITI vandals are planning a fresh wave of destruction across Melbourne in a backlash against a police crackdown.







The Herald Sun believes some vandals are discussing attacking city buildings and train lines this weekend.
It comes after the Herald Sun revealed on Saturday police had smashed Melbourne graffiti gang 70K.

70K sympathisers are preparing a graffiti assault on the city this weekend and over the weeks leading up to the Commonwealth Games.

It comes as fed-up Herald Sun readers support the new crackdown on Melbourne's graffiti.

Victorians want harsher punishments for graffiti vandals, tougher enforcement and better clean-ups by councils.

However, one reader lashed out at the crackdown in an abusive email to the Herald Sun, saying "graffiti never dies".

"Every wall you wipe is another canvas. It'll be back within a few days," he wrote. "Get ready for the Commonwealth Games, because something's going to blow your conservative minds."

One graffiti vandal who signed his email "Crim of Melb" and used the email address "I'm a vandal in Melbourne" defended the crimes.

"Graffiti isn't an eyesore," he wrote. "It is a thing of beauty."

Many vandals say scrubbing graffiti from train lines will lead to them hitting back harder.

Readers suggested ways to wipe graffiti out.

Paul Jones from Templestowe wrote: "Sentences must be increased to deter these scum that are desecrating our city."

Mr Jones said councils should paint over graffiti, then security guards should lie in wait to trap the "faceless morons" when they return to start again.

Private property owners needed to be urged to clean up graffiti on their own sites, East Brighton reader Jon Cannon said.

"They leave it, and this is exactly what the vandals want -- to see their garbage on display forever," he wrote.

However, other readers defended graffiti, saying some works deserved protection.

"I am deeply concerned that councils are about to . . . paint over some works which will in the future be recognised as examples of art belonging to turn-of-the-century Melbourne," wrote Mt Waverley reader Jenny Mackay.

Geoffrey Fulton from Torquay suggested an annual competition with big cash prizes.

"If any graffiti appears in the city, the council will remove it and the cost (will be) deducted from the prize pool," he said. "Artists will start to police each other."

Readers were responding to a Herald Sun call for comments.