Last Update: May 07, 2023, 2:52 PM IST
Italian climate activists pour black liquid into the water of Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Rome’s central Piazza Navona. (Credits: previous generation)
Protesters were heckled and whistled by onlookers and tourists near the landmark and were dragged out of the fountain by police
A group of climate activists in Italy poured a “charcoal-based black liquid” into the water of Rome’s iconic Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi on Saturday afternoon.
The group behind the protest said that four people associated with the “Let’s Not Pay for Fossil” campaign “poured vegetable-based charcoal into the fountain of Four Rivers to sound the alarm about the dark future awaiting humanity.”
“Our future is as black as this water. There is no life without water and with rising temperatures we are exposed to drought on the one hand and floods on the other,” the group Ultima Generazione said on its website.
“Water that’s missing to grow food, water that’s pooled together to destroy homes. Difficult years await us, but if we don’t reduce emissions to zero immediately, they will be dire.”
“Our future is as black as this water”. Climate activists pour black liquid into the water of Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, amid a sea of onlookers’ insults, before being dragged away by Rome police.pic.twitter.com/YIDuShDR1— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) May 6, 2023
Photos showed activists dressed in orange vests, standing waist-deep in a fountain and holding banners that read in Italian, “Our future is as black as this water.”
Protesters were heckled and whistled by onlookers and tourists near the famous site and were forced out of the fountain and taken away by police.
Last month, the group led protests at historic sites in Italy, including the Fontana della Barcaccio fountain in Rome, where they poured a similar black liquid into the fountain on April 1.
♠️ Rome – The water of the Barcaccia fountain is painted black 🚰 It is absurd that this gesture shocks you, when we are facing a drought emergency that threatens agriculture, energy production … In short In, our existence, and there are those who are responsible. pic.twitter.com/AROZ0oU8CX
— Last Generation (@LastGenerazi1) April 1, 2023
Climate-related protests have seen activists clinging to Italian masterpieces in venues including the Vatican museums and the Uffizi galleries in Florence.
Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano condemned the activists’ protest and said those responsible “must pay from their own pockets.”
“We have to register yet another disfigurement that threatens the beauty of one of our country’s iconic works of art,” Sangiuliano said.
another silly gesture of ugliness on the monuments of #roma, This time the magnificent fountain of the four rivers a #Piazza Navona, Righteous struggles become wrong if they harm the common people. The environment cannot be saved by jeopardizing the artistic heritage! pic.twitter.com/XM0CMUN8mf– Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) May 6, 2023
Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, also condemned the move as “another senseless gesture denigrating Rome’s monuments” and said, “It is not the environment that is saved by risking artistic heritage!”
The Fimi Fountain, located in the famous Piazza Navona square in Rome, was designed by the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1651.
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