A group of activists have turned the water of the Fountain of the Four Rivers black in Rome, Italy. O Protest against the climate crisis It’s part of the “We’re not paying for fossils” campaign promoted by Italian group Last Generation, and would be a warning of the growing number of droughts and floods around the world.
The Fonte dos Quatro Rios is located on Praça Navona, one of the most famous in the city and where the Brazilian Embassy in Italy is located.
According to the Ansa Brasil news agency, the black liquid poured into the well is based on coal. A total of four people were reported and arrested by the Roman police.
1 of 6 activists inside the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome on May 6, 2023 — Photo: Cecilia Fabiano/AP 2 of 6 activists throw black paint at the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome on May 6, 2023 — Photo: Cecilia Fabiano/P 3 of 6 activists are taken from the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome on May 6, 2023 — Photo: Cecilia Fabiano/AP 4 out of 6 protesters in central Rome on May 5, 2023 — Photo: Portal 5 out of 6 protesters in central Rome on May 5 May 2023 — Photo: Portal 6 of 6
Demonstrations took place in the Italian city for two consecutive days
“Our future is as black as this water. Without water there is no life,” one of the activists involved in the act told the agency, warning that as temperatures rise, people are “exposed to drought on the one hand and flooding on the other”.
“The collapse is already underway and we can no longer stop it. Proof of this are the increasingly frequent and devastating extreme events, such as the floods in the EmiliaRomagna area (Rome is located in this region of Italy) a few days ago. That’s why we’re calling on the government to immediately dump the billions they’re spending on fossil fuels,” the activist said.
Earlier this week, torrential rains hit EmiliaRomagna in northern Italy, causing extensive flooding in the region and killing at least two.
On his Twitter profile, the mayor of the Italian capital, Roberto Gualtieri, criticized the protest, saying the gesture was meaningless and a “defacement of Rome’s monuments”.
“This time the magnificent Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona was polluted. The right fights become wrong when they damage commons. You don’t save the environment by jeopardizing artistic heritage,” Gualtieri explained in a publication.
The mayor also reported that ACEA (Italy’s largest utility operator) was called in to remove the dumped material and said that although no lasting damage was found, the dust contained in the black liquid “may have damaged some of the porous parts”. Source.
“The environment and artistic heritage must be protected with equal commitment,” Gualteri said in another post.
wave of demonstrations
This was the second demonstration against the climate crisis to take place in Rome this week. Last Thursday (4) a group of activists blocked a busy street in the center of the Italian capital to protest against the government’s climate policy. The action would also have come as a warning after the floods in northern Italy.
The demonstrators also belonged to the “Last Generation”. Activists have already thrown paint at Milan’s La Scala opera house and at the headquarters of state bank CDP amid the group’s protests. They also threw soup at a Van Gogh painting in Rome and flour at an Andy Warholdecorated car in Milan.
The police intervened within minutes to remove them.
“Breathless and shirtless in the streets to denounce the obscenity of the government, which continues to watch impassively as its citizens die from extreme weather events and fuels the cause by ruthlessly subsidizing the fossil fuel industry,” the movement said in a statement .
After months of drought that raised concerns about low water levels on the Po, Italy’s longest river, heavy rains hit the EmiliaRomagna region in the north of the country this week, causing major damage. Activists blame climate change fueled by fossil fuel use for extreme weather events.