Stony-faced eco mob ignore drivers’ pleas to let them pass before they are dragged away in Rome
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A stony-faced eco mob ignored drivers’ pleas to let them pass after they sat down in the middle of a motorway in Rome.
Italian police officers were called to the scene and dragged the eco-protesters off the motorway after they brought travel chaos to Rome – days after protesters blocked roads across the Italian capital.
Around ten eco-protesters from the Ultima Generaizione – Last Generation – group blocked the Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway in Rome this morning for around half an hour.
The protesters sat down in the middle of the road, much to the frustration of local drivers, while holding banners which read ‘no gas, no coal’.
A stony-faced eco mob ignored drivers’ pleas to let them pass after they sat down in the middle of a motorway in Rome
Around ten eco-protesters from the Ultima Generaizione – Last Generation – group blocked the Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway in Rome this morning for around half an hour
Italian police officers were called to the scene and dragged the eco-protesters off the motorway after they brought travel chaos to Rome – days after protesters blocked roads across the Italian capital
At 8.50am, video shows police officers arriving and dragging the activists away from the road
Video shows drivers pleading with the protesters to move out of the way so that they can reach their destinations.
One driver could be heard saying: ‘I have my daughter with me and I need to pass.
‘I don’t care about the police, I need to go through. If you respect me, I’ll respect you. Move away and let us pass.’
But the eco mob were unfazed by his pleas and they continued to sit down with stony phases while refusing to move.
One of the demonstrators sprayed the words ‘no gas, no coal’ onto the road and the tunnel walls a few metres away.
At 8.50am, video shows police officers arriving and dragging the activists away from the road.
Eco protestors have been blocking highways across Europe, prompting scuffles as the protestors clash with drivers trying to get to work and keep appointments.
Video shows drivers pleading with the protesters to move out of the way so that they can reach their destinations
The protesters had run onto the motorway and blocked drivers
Around ten eco-protesters from the Ultima Generaizione – Last Generation – group blocked the Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway – affecting emergency service vehicles – in Rome this morning for around half an hour
Last week, angry motorists pushed over eco protestors and dragged them off the road in an attempt to unblock traffic after they sat down in the middle of the motorway in Rome.
One motorist with grey hair and glasses can be heard saying in Italian that his mother suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a rare type of arthritis, and is in the car with him.
He can be seen grabbing a female protestor and dragging her across the road, shouting: ‘You’ve f****d me off now, my mother is in the car ill.’
At one point, a motorist pushes a protestor to the ground, with the encounter looking close to turning violent.
In another close moment, a driver accelerates into a protestor blocking their path, who moves out of the way to avoid being run over.
The motorists threw insults at the activists as they repositioned themselves in front of the cars
A motorist in Rome is pictured moments before he pushes an eco protestor to the ground for blocking the motorway, with the encounter looking close to turning violent
A driver accelerates into a protestor blocking their path (left), who moves out of the way. Eco protestors have been blocking highways across Europe, prompting scuffles as the protestors clash with those with cars on the road. Shortly after, the angry drivers tore away the banner which the eco protestors had brought to illustrate their reason for blocking the road (right)
A female activist who appeared to be taking an active role in negotiating with the motorists told the man he needed to stay calm and cooperate.
Another motorist shouted in the women’s face: ‘Let’s create 18 nuclear plants and we can solve the problem this way.’
She shook her said saying: ‘No, we need to resolve this now!’
The motorists continued to insult the activists as they repositioned themselves in front of the cars.
‘Let’s get rid of this banner for f*** sake, I need to go to work, I don’t care what you’re doing here,’ said another angry motorist, tearing away the banner explaining their cause.
‘There’s no water and there will be no food too,’ retorted the protestor.
The eco protestors finally moved out of the way when an ambulance arrived, unblocking the motorway.
Just days earlier, protesters sat in the middle of the Via Guglielmo Marcon in Rome holding banners aloft as part of Ultima Generazione, Italian for Last Generation, demonstrations.
A furious driver is pictured confronting a protester holding a banner while blocking one of the busiest roads in Rome on October 31
A protester sits with her hands aloft as a car tries to drive around a group of eco-zealots blocking the road on October 31
‘Ultima Generazione’ demands the reopening of disused coal plants and cancel the project of new drilling for the research and extraction of natural gas
The ‘civil disobedience’ movement was borne from Extinction Rebellion and the independent ‘Ultima Generazioneâ’ last year.
The protesters are demanding that disused coal plants be reopened and calling for a halt to a new drilling project for the research into and extraction of natural gas.
In the UK, Just Stop oil activists today forced the closure of several sections of the M25 as they scaled the motorway’s gantry, with queues tailed back for miles.
Commuters trying to get to work expressed their frustration on social media, on a day when there was trouble on the rails as well as the roads, as a lack of drivers forced train companies to run a reduced service – even after strikes were called off at the eleventh hour.
Just Stop Oil sparked rush hour chaos again this morning after an activist scaled the motorway gantry on the M25
The eco-group carried out an entire month of action over October and were planning daily action until Christmas
Queues tailed back for miles in the middle of the Monday morning rush as police rushed to detain the rebels bringing traffic to a standstill at more than half a dozen separate locations on the ringroad
On Saturday, climate change activists blocked aircraft from leaving Amsterdam for hours by sitting in front of the wheels, while Spanish zealots glued themselves to the frames of two Francisco de Goya paintings in a Madrid museum.
Environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Schiphol Airport, located southwest of the capital, before military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses.
More than 100 activists were arrested, national broadcaster NOS said, but no delays to commercial flights were reported.
The protest was part of a day of demonstrations in and around the air hub organised by Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion in the build-up to the COP27 climate talks in Egypt.
‘We want fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets,’ Greenpeace Netherlands campaign leader Dewi Zloch said.
The environmental group says Schiphol is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually.
Hundreds of other demonstrators in and around the airport’s main hall carried signs saying ‘Restrict Aviation’ and ‘More Trains’.
Responding to the protest, Schiphol said it aims to become an emissions-free airport by 2030 and supports targets for the aviation industry to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Military police tasked with airport security said in a statement they had ‘made a number of detentions of persons who were on airport property without being allowed’.
The Dutch government announced plans in June for a cap on annual passengers at the airport at 440,000, around 11 per cent below 2019 levels, citing air pollution and climate concerns.
Transportation Minister Mark Harbers told parliament last month his office could not control growing private jet traffic and the government is considering whether to include the issue in its climate policy.
In a separate protest, two female activists glued themselves to the frames of two paintings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado Museum.
Environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Schiphol Airport, located southwest of the capital, before military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses
More than 100 activists were arrested, national broadcaster NOS said, but no delays to commercial flights were reported
Two female activists glued themselves to the frames of two paintings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado Museum
The protest was part of a day of demonstrations in and around the air hub organised by Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion in the build-up to the COP27 climate talks in Egypt
The environmental group says Schiphol is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually
Hundreds of other demonstrators in and around the airport’s main hall carried signs saying ‘Restrict Aviation’ and ‘More Trains’
Responding to the protest, Schiphol said it aims to become an emissions-free airport by 2030 and supports targets for the aviation industry to reach net zero emissions by 2050
The pair scrawled the message +1.5 degrees Celsius between the paintings they targeted – the Naked Maja and the Clothed Maja – a reference to the damaging differences to the planet which will be seen at two degrees as opposed to 1.5.
Reports suggested that police arrived and vacated the room, but no updates on the protesters has yet been given.
They identified themselves as belonging to Futuro Vegetal, which literally means Vegetable Future and is a movement linked to Extinction Rebellion Spain.
Futuro Vegetal said in a tweet showing the women stuck to the paintings: ‘We have stuck ourselves to Goya’s Mijas in the Prado Museum.
‘Last week the United Nations recognised the impossibility of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels in line with the Paris Agreement.’
The group added that not sticking to the limit will lead to more extreme weather such as drought, endangering the farming and food industries.
It said: ‘We need change now. We need a plant-based future [literal translation: Vegetable future]’.
Video footage from the scene appears to show museum staff attempting to stop bystanders filming the protest.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands a large group of protesters gathered in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport protesting the environmental impact of the aviation industry
Protesters gathered inside Schiphol airport as well as outside in a bid to stop flights from leaving
The protest follows close on the heels of an incident last month in which activists from Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.
Days later climate activists threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in Germany.
Most recently on Friday a group of activists threw pea soup onto a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece in Rome, in a protest they warned will continue until more attention was paid to climate change.
‘The Sower’, an 1888 painting by the Dutch artist depicting a farmer sowing his land under a dominating sun, was exhibited behind glass and undamaged.
Security intervened immediately and removed the protesters kneeling in front of ‘The Sower’ at the Palazzo Bonaparte. Protesters from the same group, the Last Generation, earlier blocked a highway near Rome.
The climate activists from Last Generation called their protest ‘a desperate and scientifically grounded cry that cannot be understood as mere vandalism’.
‘Non-violent direct actions will continue until citizens get answers from their government on the demands to stop gas and coal and to invest in at least 20 GW of renewables,’ they said in a statement.
Video taken from inside a museum gallery crowded with visitors show two young women throwing a liquid substance onto the painting.
They and a third woman are then seen gluing their hands to the wall as shouting erupts in the room.
Last month, a pair of demonstrators glued themselves to the floor after throwing soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at the National Gallery in London
One of the protestors said after the stunt: ‘What is worth more, art or life?’ before they glued themselves to the wall
The £76 million piece of art was ‘unharmed’ during the climate demonstration on October 14
They have targeted masterpieces such as the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre in Paris or ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer at The Hague’s Mauritshuis museum.
In October, the group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery.
All of those paintings were covered by glass and were undamaged.