Eco-vandals in Italy will be fined up to £50,000 under a new bill that came into force on Thursday in a bid to halt disruptive environmental protests.
The move comes after climate activists have attacked a series of well-known monuments in the European nation and blocked roads in recent years.
It also came after a judge charged three members of Italian climate activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation or RUG) on Wednesday.
This was after last year they sprayed orange removable paint over Maurizio Cattelan’s LOVE, a sculpture in Milan of a hand with its middle finger raised.
The law aims to halt such protests and give officials the power to impose fines of between 20,000 euros (£17,000) and 60,000 euros (£50,000).
Eco-vandals in Italy will be fined up to £50,000 under a new bill that came into force on Thursday in a bid to stop environmental protests
Last year, climate activists waded into the waters of Rome’s world-famous Trevi Fountain and poured a black liquid into it to symbolize oil
Like Just Stop Oil in Britain and other countries, the RUG has committed a series of controversial acts of civil disobedience.
Their goal was to draw attention to the climate crisis, and they’ve done that through major stunts against national monuments or by holding up traffic.
In other cases, they have poured paint over famous works of art or glued themselves to them to provoke a response from the public.
In the case of Maurizio Cattelan’s LOVE statue, three people between the ages of 23 and 29 poured orange paint over the stand it stood on.
Cattelan himself wrote to the defendants’ lawyers, saying the stunt had not ruined the artwork (commonly known as the finger).
The 63-year-old artist said he did not feel “offended or hurt.”
Other stunts, however, have provoked more angry reactions from the public.
Also last year, climate activists waded into the water of the world-famous Trevi Fountain in Rome and poured a black liquid into it to symbolize oil.
“Our country is dying,” they shouted after unfurling a banner, as tourists visiting the monument took photos, cheered and booed.
Environmentalists were removed from the famous Trevi Fountain by police officers in May
Extinction Rebellion activists turned Venice’s canals green in December to protest what the group said at the time was a lack of progress in climate talks during Cop-28 in Dubai
Three environmentalists attached themselves to the glass cover of the iconic Renaissance painting in the Sala Botticelli of the Uffizi Gallery in Italy in July 2022
Pictured: A guard drags protesters away from the painting in July 2022
Last Generation activists threw flour on a car painted by the pop art icon on display at Milan’s Fabbrica del Vapore art center in November 2022
Although the group said the liquid was carbon-based and would not damage the fountain, Rome’s mayor said anyway the city would have to throw out and replace the 300,000 liters of water circulating in the Trevi Fountain.
The group has also hurled paint at Milan’s famous La Scala opera house, eaten at the glass that protects iconic paintings, and spray-painted the Italian Senate with orange paint.
The members also blocked traffic, angering motorists.
Several videos show the activists sitting in the middle of busy roads, causing long traffic jams during the morning and afternoon rush hours.
This has invariably led to citizens taking matters into their own hands, ripping banners from the activists’ hands and dragging them off the road.
In October, angry motorists repeatedly kicked and dragged climate protesters blocking traffic in Milan.
About twenty ‘Ultima Generazione’ – translated as Last Generation – activists blocked a road, angering several motorists stuck in the resulting traffic.
Footage showed several activists sitting at a busy intersection at a multi-lane road causing chaos for motorists during rush hour by joining hands and holding up an orange climate emergency banner.
Several drivers, furious with the protesters for blocking their way, got out of the cars and united to carry them off the road in shocking scenes captured on video.
Other climate activist groups are also active in Italy.
In December, Extinction Rebellion protesters used a dye to turn Venice’s famous Grand Canal green, to protest what they said at the time was a lack of progress at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Activists from the group were seen dangling from the Rialto Bridge over the canal using hard hats and climbing ropes, displaying a banner reading: ‘COP28: While the government talks, we are hanging by a thread.’
And in 2022, Italian eco-fanatics glued their hands to Botticelli’s masterpiece Primavera in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
That same year, eleven activists threw flour on a car painted by Andy Warhol on display at Milan’s Fabbrica del Vapore art center.
Groups in Britain such as Just Stop Oil have used similar tactics in recent years.
In one case, an activist tied himself to the goalposts during a football match at Everton FC’s Goodison Park, provoking an angry response from the crowd.
Just Stop Oil protesters are seen spraying a University College London building with paint
Environmentalists from Just Stop Oil march slowly from Trafalgar Square in central London as they continue their latest round of anti-fossil fuel protests in London, United Kingdom on November 20, 2023
Activists from Extinction Rebellion hang from hanging ropes next to a giant banner reading ‘End fossil fuels now’ as they protest on Tower Bridge in east London, which is closed to traffic. Date of photo: Friday April 8, 2022
In another film, two Just Stop Oil activists – including Phoebe Plummer – threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece ‘Sunflowers’ at the National Gallery in London.
Fortunately, the painting was protected by a glass shield.
Plummer was jailed for up to six months for another incident in which she marched slowly through London and disrupted traffic.
Just Stop Oil protesters have also spray-painted buildings, including London’s Metropolitan Police’s Scotland Yard and an Aston Martin car showroom.