GRETA Thunberg has been banned from Venice after she and a group of extinction rebellion activists turned the city’s famous Grand Canal a shocking shade of green.
The 22-year-old climate radical was slapped with a £130 (€150) fine and hit with a 48-hour order blocking her from entering the historic lagoon city.
Another 35 activists were handed identical bans after a wave of protests that swept across Italy over the weekend.
The stunts were timed to coincide with the end of the Cop30 United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil – a summit that collapsed into bitter disagreement over whether world leaders she phase out fossil fuels.
In Venice, activists dumped environmentally safe dye into the Grand Canal, sending bright green swirls through the water as stunned tourists watched.
A huge banner proclaiming “Stop Ecocide” was strung from the iconic Rialto Bridge in one of the group’s most high-profile actions.
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Protesters in red cloaks and veils then crept through crowds in a slow, eerie flash-mob meant to symbolise a planet on the brink.
Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, blasted the stunt as “a disrespectful gesture for our city, its history, and its fragility.”
He added: “I am even more surprised to see Greta Thunberg among the authors of this useless protest, who clearly aim – more than raising awareness about the environment – to give visibility to themselves.”
Elsewhere in ItalyExtinction Rebellion unleashed identical green dye in rivers, fountains and canals across Genoa, Padua, Turin, Bologna, Milan, Parma, Trieste, Palermo and Taranto, warning of the “massive effects of climate collapse”.
The group accused Italy of blocking some of the strongest proposals at Cop30, claiming it was one of the nations that fought hardest against attempts to commit to ending fossil fuel use.
At the summit itself, discussions ran into overtime as delegates argued over whether fossil fuels should even be mentioned in the final text.
Negotiators failed to reach an agreement on phasing out oil, gas or coal – despite pressure from more than 30 countries, including EU nations, emerging economies and tiny island states fighting for survival.
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had pushed for a bold roadmap away from fossil fuels but was blocked by oil-rich nations, including Saudi Arabia.
In the end, the deal merely urges countries to “voluntarily” speed up their climate efforts – while recalling the weaker consensus achieved at COP28.
But despite the backlash in Venice, plenty of tourists defended the activists.
Many told Italian media the protest highlighted exactly how urgently leaders were failing the planet.
Greta’s ban comes just weeks after a far darker episode involving the Swedish activist.
She was detained by Israel after joining the Global Sumud Flotilla, an attempt to deliver aid to Gaza by sea.
Her boat was intercepted by the IDF, and she claims she was “kidnapped and tortured” during her five-day detention.
Thunberg said detainees were denied clean water, and that others were deprived of vital medication.
She was held inside Ketziot prison, a desert facility normally used for Palestinian security prisoners, before being deported to Greece on October 6.
The 22-year-old described “bug infested” cells, mocked by guards who took selfies with her before allegedly drawing a penis and writing “whore” on her suitcase.
She said she was hit, kicked, had her hands bound with cables and was starved during her detention.
Despite this, she originally insisted she didn’t want her own ordeal to overshadow the suffering of people in Gaza.
“Personally, I don’t want to share what I was subjected to because I don’t want it to make headlines and ‘Greta has been tortured’, because that’s not the story here,” she said – adding that her experience “paled in comparison” to what civilians endured in the Strip.
Israel’s foreign ministry has repeatedly and firmly denied her allegations.
“Greta Thunberg is brazenly lying,” it said.
Thunberg’s recent arrest wasn’t her first clash with authorities. Last year, Dutch police physically dragged her away during a demonstration on the A12 highway in The Hague.
Greta had joined hundreds of activists protesting fossil fuel subsidies as officers on horseback tried to stop the blockade of the major road.
She was photographed being hauled away again a few months later from the same spot, after police deployed a water cannon on a crowd of around 50 protesters.
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Extinction Rebellion organisers say the A12 has been blocked 37 times, making it one of Europe’s most persistent climate battlegrounds.
Now, Venice is the latest city to push back – even if only for 48 hours – as Greta continues to clash with governments, police forces and international authorities over what she insists is the planet’s fight for survival.