Greta Thunberg fined and expelled from Venice after Grand Canal protest
Greta Thunberg has once again been at the center of one of her controversial actions. The 22-year-old Swedish activist was fined 150 euros and expelled from Venice for 48 hours after she and 35 members of Extinction Rebellion dyed the Grand Canal green in a protest over the weekend.
The activists poured an “eco-friendly” dye into the water and displayed a banner from the iconic Rialto Bridge with the slogan “Stop ecocide,” coinciding with the closing of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. The group also staged a flash mob in which they appeared dressed in red, with veils over their faces, walking slowly among tourists to maximize visual impact.
Venetian authorities quickly reacted. Luca Zaia, governor of Veneto, called the action “a disrespectful act toward the city, its history, and its fragility.” Although the dye was non-toxic, he criticized it, saying “gestures like this can have environmental consequences and harm Venice’s image.”
Some tourists, however, defended the protest to the Italian media, describing it as a “legitimate appeal” against the alleged climate inaction of world leaders.
Extinction Rebellion acknowledged that the action in Venice was part of a simultaneous campaign in ten Italian cities, where they also poured green dye into fountains and rivers—from Genoa and Padua to Turin, Bologna, and Taranto. The group accuses Italy and Giorgia Meloni’s government of having “blocked the most ambitious proposals” at COP30 in Belém.
Thunberg is also going through a period of increasing radicalization and controversy. In October, she was detained by Israel for attempting to break the naval blockade on Gaza as part of the “Global Sumud Flotilla.” After her release, she claimed to have been “beaten and tortured” in prison, accusations that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs called “outright lies.”
