Greta Thunberg briefly banned from Venice after green dye climate protest in Grand Canal
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been issued a 48-hour ban from Venice after participating in a weekend demonstration that turned the city’s iconic Grand Canal bright green, media outlets reported Tuesday.
The protest, organized by the environmental group Extinction Rebellion, involved releasing non-toxic tracer dye into the canal to highlight what activists described as “the massive effects of climate collapse,” News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Thunberg, 22, joined other activists in unfurling a “Stop Ecocide” banner from the Rialto Bridge while demonstrators marched through the city wearing red-veiled costumes. She and dozens of others were fined $172 each for their involvement.
Similar green-dye demonstrations were held the same day in Milan, Palermo, and Bologna, where fountains and waterways were also colored bright green.
Luca Zaia, governor of Italy’s Veneto region, condemned the protest, calling it harmful rather than helpful.
“Vandalism doesn't protect the environment,” Zaia wrote on Instagram. “These acts damage Venice, require restoration work, and – paradoxically – generate pollution.”
The action comes amid a wave of dramatic climate protests in recent years, including incidents in which activists threw tomato soup and mashed potatoes on works by Van Gogh and Monet, and splashed red paint on a Degas sculpture in Washington.
Just last month, Thunberg was detained and deported from Israel after joining a flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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