Venice’s Grand Canal turned green by climate activists in Cop28 protest

Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion dyed the waters of several Italian rivers green on Saturday afternoon (9 December) in a protest coinciding with Cop28.

In Venice, after dyeing the waters of the Grand Canal green, activists hung by harnesses from the Rialto Bridge and displayed banners.

The message read: “Cop28: While the government talks, we hang by a thread”.

Protesters said they used a harmless fluorescein salt to dye the rivers.

Small stretches of rivers and canals in Italian cities, from the Po in Turin in the north to Rome’s Tiber in the south, were also turned green.