Greta Thunberg Banned From Venice

Greta Thunberg has been banned from Venice after she and Extinction Rebellion activists dyed the Grand Canal green.

The 22-year-old climate campaigner has been issued with a €150 ($175) fine and a 48-hour ban on entering the city after a series of stunts over the weekend. A group of 35 other activists were given the same fine and ban.

The climate activists dumped an environmentally harmless dye into the Grand Canal in a protest that coincided with the end of the Cop30 United Nations climate conference in Brazil.

They also strung a banner, reading “stop ecocide”, from the Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal.

The activists also staged a flash-mob protest in which protesters, dressed in red with veils over their faces, walked slowly through crowds of tourists.

Luca Zaia, the governor of Veneto, the region that includes Venice, criticised the stunt, saying that it was “a disrespectful act towards our city, its history and its fragility”.

He added: “It’s a gesture that risks having consequences for the environment.”

But many tourists who watched the protest told Italian media it was a legitimate action that would highlight the failure of world leaders to address the climate crisis adequately.

Extinction Rebellion said its activists had released the same type of green dye into canals, rivers, lakes and fountains in 10 Italian cities to highlight “the massive effects of climate collapse”.

They tipped the dye into fountains in Genoa and Padova as well as the Po river in Turin, the Reno river in Bologna and the Tara river in Taranto.

The organisation said Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni, was one of the countries that went to the greatest lengths to block the most ambitious proposals put forward at the Cop30 talks in Belem, Brazil.

The conference ended on Sunday with an array of compromises that disappointed many campaigners.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, had hoped that countries would agree to a road map for shifting away from fossil fuels. But oil-rich Arab nations and others dependent on fossil fuels blocked any mention of the issue.

Instead, countries agreed to spend more money to address the dangers caused by climate change, while ignoring their primary cause.

Thunberg was detained by Israel last month after taking part in an attempt by the Global Sumud Flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

It was the coalition’s second attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza, which has been in place since 2009.

Thunberg has claimed she was “hit, kicked, starved and tortured” during her time in Israeli custody. She also accused Israeli guards of defacing her suitcase with the words “whore Greta”, drawings of a penis and images of the Star of David.

In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “Greta Thunberg is brazenly lying.”