At the foot of the Spanish Steps in the center of Rome, a group known as Ultima Generazione, or Last Generation, poured what they characterized as a black liquid with charcoal as its main ingredient into the water of the Barcaccia fountain.
Three men and a woman can be seen inside the fountain as they open paper bags containing black powder in a video the group shared on Twitter.
The organization wrote in the tweet, "It is absurd that this gesture should shock you, when we are experiencing a drought emergency that is putting agriculture, and energy production in crisis.
According to a police spokesperson, the group was halted on Saturday by Carabinieri officials and Rome Capital police.
They are being held while charges of damaging a public monument and breaking into a fountain are ongoing. On Saturday afternoon, the marble fountain's water was still dark and stained visibly.
Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtieri visited the fountain, which Pietro Bernini designed in 1629, and shared a picture of himself gazing at the dark water on social media.
“Rome is at the forefront in the fight against climate change and in the protection of the artistic heritage,” he said.
He continued, "Throwing black liquid into the Barcaccia, risking ruining it, is an absolutely wrong gesture that does not help the environment," noting that efforts were being made to prevent irreparable harm.
The same group glued themselves to a plinth in the Vatican museums, to Sandro Botticelli's "Primavera" masterwork in Florence's Uffizi galleries, and to the Unique Forms of Continuity in Space statue in Milan's Museo del Novecento last year.
They are also being prosecuted in Rome for allegedly spray-painting the Italian Senate's facade with orange color in January of this year.
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