ROME — A group of eco-terrorists have once again defaced an iconic Rome monument, this time pouring black liquid into the Trevi Fountain.
Nine vandals from the group that calls itself Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) poured what is believed to be a carbon-based liquid into the fountain on Sunday evening and unfurled several banners reading “We don’t pay for fossils.”
Meanwhile, the activists shouted: “Our country is dying” until they were eventually stopped by police.
Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri was quick to condemn the incident, insisting that attacking the city’s artistic patrimony won’t solve anything.
“Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage,” Gualtieri wrote on Twitter. “Today the Trevi Fountain is soiled. Expensive and complex to restore, hoping that there will be no permanent damage.”
“I invite activists to compete on a confrontational terrain without putting monuments at risk,” he added.
Gualtieri later noted that thanks to the timely intervention of the local police, permanent damage was avoided, but the vandalism led to the waste of 300 thousand liters of water and a commitment of public resources.
Ironically, the Trevi Fountain is a water recycling fountain, polluted by the very people who claim to be against the destruction of the environment.
Just two weeks ago, members from the same climate terror group pulled an analogous stunt in Piazza Navona, throwing a similar black liquid into the waters of Bernini’s beautiful Baroque Fountain of the Four Rivers.