Damage to Spanish Steps highlights ongoing activist provocations

Activists are overreacting. Once again, a famous European monument has been damaged by being covered in paint. This time, it's the famous Spanish Steps.

The unfortunate event in Rome happened on Wednesday, June 26th of this year.

Protest participants carried banners with slogans opposing a phenomenon known in Italian as "femminicidio" (crimes against women). They also distributed leaflets with a list of names of victims of such crimes in recent months. What they did to the Roman monument was far worse than this form of protest.

Red paint was poured on the ornate steps of the Spanish Steps, leading to a famous square. “This is their blood: a massacre that society refuses to see," said the activists, explaining that the paint symbolized blood. In this way, a group of activists protested against the crimes committed against women in Italy.

The action took place in the presence of numerous tourists and passersby. The police and city guards had to intervene. Six people were detained. In a video on Platform X, you can see the paint-covered steps and women who first dipped their hands in red paint and then stamped them on the steps.

The monument supervision office was notified of the incident. Its task is to assess the extent of the damage to the famous monument in the centre of the Eternal City. It has been under special protection since its renovation a few years ago.

This is not the first time activists have damaged famous monuments in Europe. Last year, three climate activists from the group Just Stop Oil vandalized a well-known London monument - Wellington Arch. They used fire extinguishers to spray orange paint, covering the columns of the arch from the ground up to a height of several metres. They then set off smoke bombs. The group explained that it was a protest against the British government issuing new licences for fossil fuel extraction.