Climate activists protested in April 2022 in front of the Congress of Deputies and threw biodegradable red paint against the façade of the lion gate, being later arrested and identified by the Police. Now, the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office requests 21 months in prison for 15 of them, linked to the movement called Scientific Rebellion, by charging them with a crime against historical heritage. Among the accused for whom prison is requested is the philosopher Jorge Riechmann. There is still no date for the trial. “It is a totally disproportionate request, it was biodegradable paint and that same afternoon it was clean,” former deputy Juan López de Uralde, who witnessed the events and wrote a letter to withdraw more serious accusations against the activists, explains to EL PAÍS. “It is an example of the increasing attempt to persecute climate activism,” he adds.
The protest came two days after the publication of the latest major report from the IPCC, the United Nations group of experts that lays the foundations for climate warming, which concluded that the world’s greenhouse emissions must peak before 2025 and then fall drastically to avoid the worst consequences of the climate emergency. But the climate plans of the world’s governments do not go in that direction, which is why climate protests have not stopped happening, both before Congress and at the Prado Museum or with road closures such as the M-30 in Madrid.
The Prosecutor’s Office’s letter recalls that the Congress is listed as a unique building in the Catalog of protected buildings of the city of Madrid and has a recognized level of comprehensive Type I protection. For this reason, the representative of the Public Ministry accuses them of a crime against historical heritage and demands compensation in liability of 2,593 euros from the State and another 714 euros from the Madrid City Council. In total, about 3,300 euros.
The indictment recalls that shortly before 10:00 a.m. on April 6, 2022, a group of 15 people, “previously arranged among themselves,” went to the Plaza de las Cortes in Madrid for a protest in which they participated together with other people before the Congress of Deputies due to the so-called “emergencies” derived from the so-called “climate change”.
Once there, armed with a liquid substance of organic composition, “possibly resulting from the previous blending of beets and its mixture with cocoa and/or some other substance,” they threw said liquid substance in multiple areas of the main façade of the Congress building. Deputies, “including the staircase, the columns, the portico, the lion podiums, and part of the façade attached to the main bronze door.”
The reddish-pigmented liquid substance caused damage to the property “whose full restoration required, in addition to a first cleaning by applying pressurized water by the Special Urgent Municipal Cleaning Service of Madrid, at a cost of 713.57 euros, the subsequent intervention of the property through the application of controlled and harmless cleaning systems for the stone and mortars, having to use surfactants, brushes and absorbent systems aimed at eliminating the organic residues that remained, mainly in the porous materials,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office. In total, this additional cost amounted to 2,592.69 euros for the budget of the Congress of Deputies.
Information is the first tool against climate change. Subscribe to it.
Subscribe
Finally, the Public Ministry emphasizes that the building of the Palace of the Congress of Deputies, located on Carretera de San Jerónimo No. 39 in Madrid, is cataloged as a unique building in the Catalog of protected buildings of the city of Madrid and has a recognized Comprehensive Type I level of protection in accordance with the provisions of the city’s General Urban Planning Plan. In addition, a file was initiated for its declaration as an Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of monument by Ministerial Order of June 4, 1977 of the Ministry of Education and Science, with the consequence of article 11.1 of Law 16/1985, of 25 of June, of Spanish historical heritage.
A “disproportionate” request
Former Unidas Podemos deputy Juan López de Uralde—now coordinator of Alianza Verde—encountered the action as he left Congress that April 6. “I saw climate activists protesting and chatted with them. Then they launched biodegradable paint. At the same moment they took the people away, they were already cleaning it with hoses, and that same afternoon there was not a trace left,” he points out.
“The prosecutor’s order seems like absolute unjustified nonsense to me. There is a principle in justice which is proportionality and I believe that the request is absolutely disproportionate. There was no damage to the building, and despite this they are accused of damage to heritage.” After the arrests, López de Uralde wrote to the then president of the Lower House, Meritxel Batet, to defend the accused: “They also wanted to accuse them of attacking the State authorities, which carries higher penalties, because supposedly they had interrupted the development of the Plenary Session of Congress. That was a falsehood. So I wrote to Batet and she denied it, because she really had no impact on the session.” In her opinion, this request for penalties “is an example of the attempt to increasingly persecute climate activism.”
You can follow CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
#Prosecutors #Office #requests #months #prison #climate #activists #threw #biodegradable #paint #Congress