At least seven activists protesting against climate change climbed into the Trevi fountain in Rome and poured diluted charcoal into the water to turn it black.
The protesters who were from the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) group held up banners saying “We won’t pay for fossil [fuels]” and shouted “Our country is dying.”
According to reports, Uniformed police waded into the water to take away the activists, with many tourists filming the stunt and a few of the onlookers shouting insults at the protesters, video footage showed.
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In a statement, Ultima Generazione called for an end to public subsidies for fossil fuels and linked the protests to deadly floods in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna in recent days. The group said one in four houses in Italy were at risk from flooding.
Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, was said to have condemned the protest which is the latest in a series of acts targeting works of art in Italy. “Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage,” he wrote on Twitter.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
