Greta Thunberg Banned from Venice After Grand Canal Protest

Greta Thunberg has added another headline to her long list of climate stunts—this time by dyeing Venice’s Grand Canal bright green. The result? A $172 fine and a 48-hour ban from the historic Italian city.

The 22-year-old Swedish climate activist joined Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters in Venice as part of a coordinated series of disruptive demonstrations across ten Italian cities. In what the group called a “symbolic act,” they poured a fluorescent tracer dye into the canal, turning its waters a lurid neon green.

Authorities were not amused.

Veneto Province Governor Luca Zaia condemned the act, calling it “a gesture that risks having consequences for the environment” and slammed the protest as “a disrespectful act towards our city, its history, and its fragility.” And he’s right Venice isn’t just any city. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, visited by over 13 million people a year. Turning its most iconic waterway into a prop for climate theater isn’t just irresponsible it’s arrogant.

• Thunberg was joined by about 35 other demonstrators, all of whom received fines alongside the 48-hour city ban.

• Extinction Rebellion claimed the dye was non-toxic, often used in environmental studies, but that didn’t soften the backlash.

• Venice has been grappling with flooding and overtourism, making the city’s ecosystem extremely delicate a fact climate activists conveniently ignore when it suits their agenda.

The protest occurred shortly after the conclusion of the COP30 United Nations climate summit in Brazil, where as usual radical activists claimed not enough was being done. Apparently disrupting cities, dyeing rivers, and staging silent mobs in red veils is their version of contributing meaningfully to the conversation.

Extinction Rebellion didn’t stop in Venice either. They carried out similar dye-related actions in Genoa, Padova, Turin, Bologna, and Taranto. They’re calling it “civil disobedience.” Most Italians are calling it what it is: eco-vandalism.

Thunberg’s group hung a “Stop Ecocide” banner from Venice’s iconic Rialto Bridge and paraded through crowds in what they described as a “silent flash mob” dressed in symbolic red. It’s all very dramatic but like most of Greta’s spectacles, the substance is missing.

And let’s not forget: this is the same Extinction Rebellion that blocked roads, disrupted airports, and even vandalized art exhibits in the name of “climate justice.” They don’t just want attention they want control. And if that means trampling on cultural landmarks, tourism economies, or national sovereignty, they’re more than willing.

The Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has rightly taken a more measured approach to climate policy, resisting the unworkable demands of climate extremists at the recent COP30 summit. That’s precisely what drew the ire of Thunberg and her followers. When a government chooses energy stability and economic reality over alarmist ideology, groups like XR throw tantrums in the streets or in this case, the canals.

What we’re seeing isn’t grassroots activism it’s the tantrum of an elite, entitled movement that believes it’s above the law and beyond criticism.

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