Climate activists stain Sagrada Familia with red tint

Two climate activists stained a part of the Sagrada Família basilica on Sunday to protest against the management of forest fires.

A pair of activists from the Futuro Vegetal platform carried out the protest action around 8 am, throwing red-tinted powder at the Portal de la Fe of Gaudí's basilica.

The group chanted "climate justice" and denounced the "complicity" of governments in the forest fires that have occurred this summer across the Iberian Peninsula.

Security guards quickly intercepted the activists, and local police reported them for "defacing a monument." The Mossos d'Esquadra have also opened proceedings for the incident.

"We are throwing colored powder at the facade of the Sagrada Família to protest against the complicity of the different governments in the fires that have devastated the peninsula this summer," the platform said in statements online.

"According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, around 70% of forest fires are caused by activities related to livestock farming. However, the subsidies for these do not stop, and the fires have been used by the meat 'lobby' as a propaganda tool," the environmentalist group criticized.

"The different regional and central governments are prioritizing, once again, watering livestock farms with public money instead of protecting people who have lost their homes due to the fires. We want public funds to be allocated to essential workers such as firefighters or health workers," the statement added.

Futuo Vegetal also denounced that the activists had been detained "violently" by the security guards, and that they had been released with a proposed fine of €600 each "due to the gag law."