June 2000: Two Activists Torch SUVs, Jailed, Become ‘Prisoners of War’

Jeff “Free” Luers. [Source: Free Jeff Luers (.org)]Two Earth Liberation Front (ELF—see 1997) activists, Jeff “Free” Luers and Craig “Critter” Marshall, firebomb a car dealership in Eugene, Oregon, destroying 36 sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Luers will be convicted and sentenced to over 22 years in prison; Marshall will receive over five years. Luers and Marshall will become two of the most well-known jailed “ecoterrorists” (see 1970s), and will be the subject of intensive public efforts to gain their release. “Failure to support our prisoners is tantamount to sanctioning repression by the state,” an ELF statement will proclaim. ELF and other environmental, anarchist, and animal rights organizations will solicit funds for their legal representation, create Web sites to garner publicity, and organize concerts on their behalf. Both ELF and a Eugene organization called Green Anarchy label Luers and Marshal “prisoners of war.” [Anti-Defamation League, 2005; Eugene Register-Guard, 12/18/2009]