The Mayor, the tank and the Mercedes.
The stunt was organised to warn car owners against parking in cycle lanes, something strictly forbidden within the streets of capital. A keen cyclist, Zuokas has long urged the people to take up cycling and campaigned to introduce cycle lanes during a previous term in office.
”What should the city do about drivers who think that they are above the law? It seems that a tank is the best solution,” Arturas Zuokas explained his reasoning before the stunt.
- “The get-tough approach.” Miriam Elder writing in The Guardian stated that this approach “earned praise for Zuokas, who has been better known for his involvement in a bribery scandal while serving two terms as mayor until 2007.” Perhaps this was his intention. Elder went on to state that the mayor was “beaming triumphantly as he rides roughshod over the car.”
- A publicity stunt. The Telegraph described the event as “a publicity stunt designed for the internet age.” It went on to assert that “the car that he so demonstrably crushed was bought especially for the exercise and did not belong to an unsuspecting motorist, a spokeswoman clarified.”
- All mouth, no trousers. Sky News opined that “Despite the video, the mayor’s spokeswoman said there were no plans for a tough new law to stop illegal parking. Instead motorists would be hit with the less aggressive option of an infringement notice.” The Independent also quoted a representative of the mayor, saying that the stunt was simply to “to raise the public’s awareness and urge both the residents of Vilnius and guests in our city to park in those areas that are legally designated for parking.”
