Spain arrests climate activists over museum protests

BARCELONA

Spanish police said on Jan. 12 they had arrested 22 environmentalists over protests at museums and elsewhere, including one where they glued their hands to frames of paintings by Francisco de Goya.

The group is suspected of 65 protests in Spain and other countries, including throwing paint at buildings and works of art in museums, halting traffic and occupying the runways of airports, police said in a statement.

While the statement did not name the group, a police spokesman told AFP it was Futuro Vegetal, which in November 2022 staged a demonstration at Madrid's Prado museum to protest at inaction in the face of the climate emergency.

Two members of the group each glued a hand to the frames of two world-famous paintings by Spanish master Goya.

The protest did not damage either painting, but the protesters scrawled "+1.5°C" on the wall between the two artworks, in reference to the Paris Agreement target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The works - "The Naked Maja" and "The Clothed Maja" - were painted in the late 18th and early 19th century respectively.

Climate activists have staged a string of similar protests to call attention to global heating, including throwing soup at the protective glass over works by Vincent van Gogh in London and Rome, and smeared mashed potatoes on the glass over a Claude Monet masterpiece.

Police said the 22 people arrested formed a "criminal structure" and had caused damage worth over half a million euros. They did not specify the date of the arrests but Futuro Vegetal wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that they occurred in December.

Futuro Vegetal is also accused of throwing paint at the walls of Spain's lower house of parliament and the agriculture ministry in Madrid, and blocking a key highway in the Spanish capital.

Police said they were also charged with forcing the temporary closure of two airports - one in Madrid, the other on the holiday island of Ibiza - by occupying runways.

Futuro Vegetal, which is linked to similar groups internationally, had collected over 140,000 euros in donations, the police statement said.

Its top three leaders are among those arrested in police operations in cities across Spain including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, the police spokesman said.