Activists engaged in acts of civil
disobedience to draw attention to the climate crisis must stop
their "absurd" attacks on the city's monuments and seek forms of
confrontation that do not jeopardise art heritage, Rome Mayor
Roberto Gualtieri said on Sunday.
His call came after member of Italy's Last Generation (Ultima
Generazione - UG) poured black liquid made from diluted
vegetable charcoal into the Trevi fountain.
"Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage," said
Gualtieri.
"Today (the activists) daubed the Trevi Fountain. (It will be)
costly and complex to restore, in the hope that there is no
permanent damage. I invite activists to find a ground for
confrontation that does not put monuments at risk," he added.
In Rome in recent weeks climate activists belonging to UG have
poured black liquid into the Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza
Navona and sprayed the front of the Senate with red paint, as
well as stripping off half naked and halting traffic in the
central Via del Tritone and abseiling down from bridge to halt
traffic on the city's 'Tangenziale' inner ring road.
Elsewhere in Italy they have splashed paint at the La Scala
opera house and the Vittorio Emanuele II statue in Milan, stuck
themselves to Botticelli's Spring at the Uffizi galleries in
Florence and the Laocoon statue in the Vatican, blocked the Mt
Blanc Tunnel, and thrown flour over an Andy Warhol car in Milan
and throwing soup onto a Van Gogh.
In the light of such acts, the government has approved a
crackdown on art 'eco-vandals', with fines of up to 60,000
euros.
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