German police have raided the homes of climate activists suspected of having damaged property at an art gallery.
The raids, which took part today (24th November), as part of a police investigation into an attack by climate activists in Dresden’s Old Masters Gallery, reportedly involved about 60 police officers in the city of Leipzig.
The move comes after climate activist groups across Europe in recent months have been filmed attaching themselves to priceless works of art in a bid to highlight their demands for changes to be made to national climate policies.
They have also been repeatedly demanding an end to oil and gas exploration and extraction projects.
The Dresden protest, which was filmed and posted on social media at the time, reportedly involved two members of the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) group supergluing their hands to Rafael’s world-famous painting “Sistine Madonna” in August.
The local prosecutor’s office has said that the raids are part of an investigation into the two men, aged 22 and 29, as well as into a 22-year-old woman. Two of the suspects had previously been named as Jakob Beyer, 29, and Maike Grunst, 22.
The three face accusations that they damaged the property, with an estimated that it has cost the gallery approximately EUR 4,000 (GBP 3,440) to repair the damage, with the gallery also estimating that it has lost EUR 12,000 (GBP 10,300) in revenue over the action, which includes loss of visitors.
Other famous paintings across Europe have been targeted by climate activists, including Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ in London and Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in The Hague.
The investigation is ongoing.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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