(Washington) Environmental activists threw red powder on the glass protecting the original copy of the US Constitution in Washington on Wednesday, urging President Biden to declare a state of emergency on climate.
“We do not want the end of civilization, but this is the path we are currently on,” alerted the Declare emergency group, which claimed responsibility for the action on X, by resharing a video of the incident.
Unknown to the general public, its activists had already carried out a sweeping action against a sculpture by Degas in a museum in Washington.
The National Archives, located in the US capital, houses the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, written in 1787.
“Around 2:30 p.m., two individuals threw red powder at the window protecting it,” the National Archives said in a press release. “They were immediately arrested,” they said.
SCREENSHOT FROM X (@FORDFISCHER)
The Declare emergency group claimed responsibility for the action on X.
“We take this type of vandalism very seriously and will insist that the perpetrators be prosecuted,” said Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States.
Since the fall of 2022, mainly in Europe, environmental activists have increased actions targeting works of art to alert public opinion about global warming.
For example, they stuck their hands on a painting by Goya in Madrid, splashed tomato soup on the Sunflowers by Van Gogh in London and spread mashed potatoes on a Claude Monet masterpiece in Potsdam, near Berlin.
More recently, soup was sprayed on the armored glass protecting The Mona Lisain Paris.