The waters in Venice’s main canal turned Fluorescent green on Sunday in the area near the city’s famous Rialto Bridge. Authorities are seeking to determine the cause, Italy’s fire department said.
The regional environmental protection agency has received samples of the affected waters and is working to identify the substance that changed the colour, the department said in a tweet.
[ ‘We don’t want to be Venice’: Barcelona battles an influx of touristsOpens in new window ]
The Venice prefect has called an emergency meeting of police forces to understand what happened and study possible countermeasures, the Ansa news agency reported.
This incident echoes recent environmental protests in the country which have seen groups using colouring agents to target landmark monuments, such as Rome’s Trevi fountain which was turned black using vegetable charcoal in a protest against fossil fuels.
‘A lot of children die’: Patrick Freyne reports from inside Chad camps for Sudanese refugees
Where Ukrainian children once played, piles of toys memorialise the dead
‘They want revenge’: Spanish government accused of playing politics with Franco’s bitterly divisive legacy
Trump tariffs chaos may change EU thinking on Mercosur trade deal
Unlike previous cases, however, no activist group has come forward to claim responsibility for what happened in Venice. – Reuters
