A climate activist group called Ultima Generazione in Italy staged a protest against fossil fuel consumption by pouring vegetable-based charcoal-black liquid into Rome’s Fiumi Fountain on Saturday. The group is associated with the campaign “WE DON’T PAY FOR FOSSIL” and released a statement saying, “Our future is as black as this water: without water there is no life.”
The activists chose the fountain, also known as the Fountain of Four Rivers, to symbolize the importance of water for human life and how the current climate crisis threatens this equilibrium. The fountain was built in 1651 by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome’s famous Piazza Navona plaza and features statues depicting the four main rivers of the Earth.
The Italian government condemned the protest, and members of the group were arrested and are now facing accusations of defacing a public monument. Italy’s minister of culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, criticized the activists’ protest, saying those guilty must “pay out of their own pockets” and that “these are acts against the environment which they claim to want to defend because the notion of landscape includes what beautiful things over centuries of history human genius has produced.”
Sangiuliano also pointed out that the restoration of the fountain would be expensive, and the Italian citizens would have to pay for it.
The same group had previously staged protests at other Italian historical sites, including the Barcaccia fountain in Rome’s centre, which they also poured dark liquid into last month. The group said that it was done to highlight the dangers to the water resources due to global warming.
The activists allege that the government continues to use taxpayer funds to support the fossil fuel sector rather than taking action to preserve crops, the economy, and the population.
In summary, the climate activists poured vegetable-based charcoal-black liquid into Rome’s Fiumi Fountain to draw attention to the importance of water for human life and the threats posed by the climate crisis. The Italian government condemned the protest and arrested members of the group, who now face accusations of defacing a public monument.
The same group had previously staged protests at other Italian historical sites, including the Barcaccia fountain, to highlight the dangers of global warming. The group alleges that the government is not taking action to preserve crops, the economy, and the population and continues to use taxpayer funds to support the fossil fuel sector.
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