Members of Italy's Ultima Generazione
(UG) group on Sunday continued their campaign of civil
disobedience to highlight the need to tackle the climate crisis
by spraying paint over the front of a branch of the economy
ministry in Florence.
Three 'concerned citizens' used fire extinguishers to squirt
easy-to-wash-off paint over the building, sat down in front of
it with a banner saying "Stop Fossil-Fuel Subsidies" and waited
for the police to arrive.
UG said the act sought to "denounce the complicity of the
political decision-makers and fossil-fuel multinationals, which
enjoy direct and indirect subsidies for extraction activities".
"The effects of the climate collapse are already evident," UG
supporter Nicole said in a statement.
"Last year we witnessed extremely serious climate episodes. I am
afraid. I have no idea what could happen....
"Ours is a cry for help, we want the politicians to listen to
us.
"It is necessary to take action because there is no more time
and these gestures are the only way we have left to get heard".
UG have staged many similar protests including splashing paint
over the front of the Senate in Rome, the La Scala opera house
in Milan and sticking themselves to Botticelli's Spring at the
Uffizi and the Laocoon statue in the Vatican, as well as
blocking the Mt Blanc Tunnel, throwing flour over an Andy Warhol
car in Milan, and throwing soup onto a Van Gogh in Rome.
They have also blocked traffic on Rome's ring road on several
occasions.
Ultima Generazione is demanding the immediate halt to the
reopening of decommissioned coal plants and the scrapping of new
gas-drilling projects in Italy.
It also wants the government to take action to increase the
energy generated by renewables in Italy by at least 20GW each
year.
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