CNN
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A gaggle referred to as Ultima Generazione or Final Era have poured what they described as a charcoal-based black liquid into the water of the Barcaccia fountain on the base of the Spanish Steps in central Rome.
The group posted a video on Twitter, displaying three males and a girl contained in the fountain opening paper luggage of a black powder.
“It’s absurd that this gesture ought to shock you, once we are experiencing a drought emergency that’s placing agriculture, vitality manufacturing in disaster,” the group stated within the tweet.
The group was stopped by Carabinieri officers and Rome Capital police on Saturday, a police spokesperson stated.
They’re in custody pending expenses of defacing a public monument and coming into a fountain.
The water remained black with seen stains to the marble fountain on Saturday afternoon.
Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri visited the fountain – designed by Pietro Bernini in 1629 – and posted a photograph of himself staring on the inky water.
“Rome is on the forefront within the combat in opposition to local weather change and within the safety of the creative heritage,” he stated.
“Throwing black liquid into the Barcaccia, risking ruining it, is a fully mistaken gesture that doesn’t assist the atmosphere,” he added, saying work was beneath method to make sure there was no everlasting injury.
The identical group glued themselves to a plinth within the Vatican museums, to Sandro Botticelli’s “Primavera” masterpiece on the Uffizi galleries in Florence and to the Distinctive Types of Continuity in House statue on the Museo del Novecento in Milan final 12 months.
They’re additionally dealing with expenses in Rome for throwing orange paint on the Italian Senate façade in January this 12 months.
