Five members of the Ultima Generazione
(Last Generation - UG) civil-disobedience group poured red
liquid over themselves outside Florence cathedral on Monday to
highlight the need to combat the climate crisis.
The action, in the area of the Florence Baptistery, was also
staged in solidarity with two UG members recently handed
nine-month suspended jail terms and 1,500-euro fines by a
Vatican court for a protest in the Vatican Museums last year.
"Today we pour this red liquid over our bodies, a metaphor of
the blood of martyrdom, because we choose life in the face of
the climate crisis," UG, which has staged a series of
controversial headline-grabbing protests, said in a statement.
The five held up a banner that read "We Won't Pay for Fossils"
(Non Paghiamo Il Fossile), the slogan of an UG campaign calling
for an end to public subsidies to fossil fuel projects.
Greenhouse emissions from the use of fossil fuels are the
driving force of global heating.
The five showed their support for Ester Goffi, 26, and Guido
Viero, 61, who, in addition to the suspended sentences, were
last month ordered to pay 28,000 euros in damages for having
glued themselves to the iconic Laocoon statuary group last
August.
UG said the the aim of Monday's protest was "to bring to the
pontiff's attention the unjust and disproportionate" sentences
the pair were handed.
The group said Goffi and Viero has responded to the appeal made
by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si on the need to
protect our common home, but had instead "encountered
repression".
Cathedral authorities said the Baptistery was not damaged in the
protest.
The red liquid used was a mix of tomato sauce and blueberries.
Florence Mayor Dario Nardella on Monday told Ultima Generazione
to stop targetting cultural heritage.
"I think the environmental-emergency battle is one for citizens,
institutions and civil society to wage together," said Nardella,
who was hailed as a hero by some after he rugby-tackled an UG
activist who was spraying orange paint over the walls of Palazzo
Vecchio, the home of Florence's town hall, in a protest in
March.
"I think attacking cultural heritage, even if only symbolically
and, unlike the Palazzo Vecchio case, without causing material
damage, gives the wrong message.
"Nature and culture are sisters.
"Hitting one to protect the other is message that, in my
opinion, does not win the support of the public.
"I reiterate my appeal to the Ultima Generazione protestors.
"Stop this form of protest and there will certainly be the
conditions to work together and for construction dialogue.
"But you cannot offend, even symbolically, cultural heritage to
highlight the real problem of the climate emergency".
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