An anonymous group of anarchists has claimed responsibility for a Nov. 24 vandalism of the Department of Corrections building on McDowell Street. Police say the vandals slashed several vehicles’ tires and painted slogans like “Burn Prisons” on the building.

“Nov. 24 in the dead of night, we attacked the Department of Corrections (DOC): Division of Community Corrections on McDowell St. in Asheville, NC,” an anonymous member of the group writes on the website Anarchist News. “Six DOC vehicles were disabled. Their tires were slashed and their windows destroyed with glass etching fluid. “Burn the Prisons” and a circled A were scrawled across DOC building’s veneer.”

“This building oversees the administration of probation and forced drug texts,” the post continues. “It is one institutional position of the DOC. It is linked to the Prison Industrial Complex, and the police apparatus. We did this as an attack against this institution in particular and the police apparatus in general.”

According to police reports, the Asheville Police Department was notified of the vandalism on Nov. 26 and the vandals caused about $3,000 in damage to the vehicles.

The anarchist group, however, asserting that “In a world dominated by these institutions and saturated by police, we did this to show that we will not be neutralized, and that it is absolutely possible and imperative that we fight these motherfuckers.” The group also claimed the action was “an act of revolutionary solidarity” with Erik Oseland, a protester of the 2008 Republican National Convention who pleaded guilty in September to planning to shove newspaper boxes into traffic, David Japenga, recently sentenced to 6 to 18 months for breaking windows of banks and businesses during the 2009 G20 protests in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Alfredo Bonanno, an Italian anarchist recently released from prison in Greece following a conviction for armed robbery.

APD spokesperson Melissa Williams stated that “we can’t comment on possible motives or potential suspects, as the investigation is ongoing in our Criminal Investigations Division.”

— David Forbes, senior news reporter