Climate activists dump coal in Rome’s Trevi Fountain to protest fossil fuels
Climate activists waded into Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain over the weekend and dumped coal in its water to protest the use of fossil fuels.
About 10 protesters from the group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) used the gesture to say that climate change caused the deadly floods hitting Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, according to German broadcaster DW News.
Police intervened shortly after the stunt began and removed the activists from the blackened waters of the 18th-century Baroque fountain.
“Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri wrote on Twitter in Italian.
“Today the Fountain of Trevi was smeared. Expensive and complex to restore, hoping that there is no permanent damage. I invite activists to involvement in public discussion without putting the monuments at risk,” he said, according to a translation by The Washington Times done with computer assistance.
At least 14 people died and thousands more were displaced last week after heavy rains flooded local waterways and enabled landslides in the northeastern part of Italy.
Some Italian officials have said that a lengthy drought in Emilia-Romagna that preceded the flooding had left the soil too hard to be able to absorb the downpour, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The climate activists claimed that 25% of homes in Italy are vulnerable to floods.
