A Milan court on Thursday rejected a request to put an activist involved in several acts of civil disobedience to highlight the need to tackle the climate crisis under a special-surveillance regime.
Police in Pavia had requested the move on the grounds that 20-year-old Simone Ficicchia was a danger to society after taking part in acts of protest staged by the Ultima Generazione (UG – Last Generation) climate group.
These actions included a protest on December 7 in which ‘concerned citizens’ belonging to UG threw paint at the entrance to the La Scala opera house in Milan.
UG have staged many similar protests including splashing paint over the front of the Senate in Rome and sticking themselves to Botticelli’s Spring at the Uffizi and the Laocoon statue in the Vatican, as well as blocking the Mt Blanc Tunnel, throwing flour over an Andy Warhol car in Milan, and throwing soup onto a Van Gogh in Rome.
They have also blocked traffic on Rome’s ring road on several occasions.