Taggers paint graffiti on train while passengers wait to get down
A daring gang of 10-12 masked youth used spray paint to cover the exterior of a local passenger train with graffiti when it stopped at Auckland's Baldwin Ave station about 4.45pm on Sunday with passengers trapped inside. The train was bound for Britomart, Auckland.
Video of this graffiti ‘attack’ first emerged on Facebook and Instagram where the youth gang can be seen rushing towards the train as it slowed and defaced the train with spray-paint.
It took the vandals barely eight minutes for them to completely cover the platform facing side of the train with paint and writing that said, 'Outcasts - till death'.
A spokesman for the Auckland Transport that operate these trains, said the vandals pressed the train's emergency safety button on the outside of the carriage, which immobilised the train, giving them enough time to accomplish their mission.
The train driver locked the carriage doors to keep passengers, including an Auckland Councillor, John Watson,safe until the police arrived.
Some passengers on the train were reportedly distressed or frightened, while others appeared bemused and clicked photos. No commuter or staff were harmed.
All the offenders escaped before the police arrived at the scene. No arrests have since been reportedly made and police were making enquiries.
The train was removed from service and taken to the Auckland Transport’s depot where it was washed.
Last year, vandalism on Auckland trains and at stations had cost $1.29m,but it was the first time that train had been defaced on a railway platform, that too, in broad day light.
Gurbir Singh is a New Zealand-based feature writer & journalist.
He can be contacted at: gurbir@journalist.com & you can like him on Facebook