Greta Thunberg, other activists temporarily banned from Venice following Grand Canal dye stunt

Greta Thunberg and other Extinction Rebellion-affiliated activists have been fined and temporarily banned from Venice after dumping green dye into the city’s Grand Canal.

Ms. Thunberg and others stood on the city’s Rialto Bridge Saturday to dump the verdant dye and hang a banner reading in Italian “Stop Ecocide.” After the stunt, she and the others were levied a 150 euro fine ($173.41) and banned from Venice for 48 hours. Their instruments and banners were also seized, according to Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino.

Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region of which Venice is the capital, said on social media that the protest was “an act that shows little respect for our cities, their history, their fragility. An act that also risks having consequences for the environment,” as translated from Italian.

Mr. Zaia also called out Ms. Thunberg personally, writing “I am even more astonished to see Greta Thunberg among the authors of this useless protest, which evidently aims — rather than raising environmental awareness — to give themselves visibility.”

The stunt Saturday coincided with the end of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), the annual U.N. climate change conference held this year in Brazil. Dye was also poured into rivers or water features in the Italian cities of Bologna, Genoa, Milan, Padua, Palermo, Parma, Trieste and Turin, Extinction Rebellion said.

Italy was targeted for protest because, Extinction Rebellion says, it worked with other countries to water down proposals at the COP30 conference. The eventual language settled on at the conference did not include the phaseout of fossil fuels, to the group’s consternation.

“The most important global summit to define international political agreements aimed at countering climate and social collapse is coming to a close, and this year too, Italy has been among the countries that have most hindered the most ambitious measures,” Venice local Paola, who did not provide a surname, said in a release from the Italian branch of the group.