(MENAFN) Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was prohibited from entering Venice for 48 hours after participating in a demonstration that transformed the city’s iconic Grand Canal into a vivid green, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The event, organized by Extinction Rebellion over the weekend, involved dispersing non-toxic tracer dye into the canal waters to highlight “the massive effects of climate collapse,” the group said, as reported by a news agency.

Thunberg, 22, along with fellow demonstrators, displayed a banner reading “stop ecocide” from the Rialto Bridge and marched through the city wearing red-veiled costumes.

Authorities issued fines of $172 to her and dozens of other participants.

Comparable demonstrations occurred in Milan, Palermo, and Bologna, where fountains and waterways were also tinted green.

Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, criticized the protest as harmful.

“Vandalism doesn't protect the environment,” Zaia stated on Instagram. “These acts damage Venice, require restoration work, and – paradoxically – generate pollution.”

This Extinction Rebellion action is part of a series of provocative climate protests in recent years, including incidents where tomato soup and mashed potatoes were thrown on paintings by Van Gogh and Monet, and red paint was splashed on a Degas sculpture in Washington.

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