Tag: Madrid

Climate activists hurl red paint at Christopher Columbus mural in caught in a bizarre caught-on-camera art attack

The two vandals, members of the radical group “Futuro Vegetal,” were caught on shocking video throwing red paint at “First Tribute to Christopher Columbus,” a massive mural of the Italian-born explorer painted in 1892 by artist Jose Garnelo and displayed at Madrid’s Naval Museum, Spain’s El Pais reported.

Two climate activists throwing red paint on a mural depicting Christopher Columbus at a museum, with bystanders reacting.

From New York Post

By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

Two activists throwing red paint at a mural of Christopher Columbus in a museum, with other viewers present.

This is not how you celebrate Columbus Day.

A pair of crazed climate activists were busted Sunday after hurling red paint at a mural of Christopher Columbus — in a bizarre caught-on-camera art attack at a Spanish museum.

The two vandals, members of the radical group “Futuro Vegetal,” were caught on shocking video throwing red paint at “First Tribute to Christopher Columbus,” a massive mural of the Italian-born explorer painted in 1892 by artist Jose Garnelo and displayed at Madrid’s Naval Museum, Spain’s El Pais reported.

The activist group, whose name loosely translates to “Vegetarian Future,” also unfurled a banner reading, “October 12, nothing to celebrate. Ecosocial justice,” the outlet reported.

Spain, which funded the explorer’s voyage in 1492, celebrates it’s version of Columbus Day on October 12, while the holiday is being celebrated on Monday in the US.

The footage of the museum stunt shows two women throwing red paint on the mural, and then quickly being confronted by a security guard, who drags them away from the artwork with the help of bystanders.

According to El Pais, the activists, who were not immediately identified, were taken into custody by museum security and were later arrested and charged with crimes against cultural heritage.

Luna Lagos, a spokesperson for the activist group, said the holiday “celebrates centuries of oppression and genocide against the indifenous people of Abya Yala,” the indigenous name for the Americas.

The group also staged a sit-in on Sunday around Pablo Picaso’s Guernica at the Reina Sofia Museum.

Columbus’ voyages are the subject of controversy among many, but the explorer is widely credited with opening the way for European settlement of the Americas, and is particularly the subject of national pride for Italians and Italian-Americans, including in New York City.

Record Breaking Heatwave In Europe?

As we have seen, Rome never got above 41.8C at the most. As for Madrid, temperatures only reached 39C, nothing out of the ordinary at all for the nation’s capital

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/07/18/europe-heatwave-rome-temperature-record-covid-protocols/

Most of the so-called reporting of the European heatwave seems to have centred around of temperature forecasts, rather than actual ones, along with claims of “records” and images of people enjoying the sun. Factual reporting appears to have taken a holiday!

Take the Telegraph article above, published on 18th July. It begins:

Rome was among several European regions to breach temperature records on Tuesday as a Covid-style protocols were rolled out across Italy to protect its hospitals from the unprecedented heatwave.A new record was set in the Italian capital when the local weather agency recorded highs of 41.8C (107.2F), beating the previous record set in June last year by 1C.The European Space Agency said thermometers could tip 48C in Sardinia and Sicily, while the temperatures in Rome and Madrid could both reach the mid to high-40Cs.In drought-stricken Spain, temperatures were set to reach highs of 44C in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands while the country is in the final throes of an election campaign before Sunday’s vote.

Let’s examine some of these claims more closely:

A new record was set in the Italian capital when the local weather agency recorded highs of 41.8C (107.2F), beating the previous record set in June last year by 1C.

For a start, the previous record was not 40.8C, as implied. A temperature of 42.0C was recorded at the Ponte di Nona in 2005

https://www.ecad.eu/indicesextremes/customquerytimeseriesplots.php

As for this week, the temperature at Rome’s Urbe Airport only reached 40C:

https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/italy/rome/historic

thermometers could tip 48C in Sardinia and Sicily

And pigs might fly!

Alghero, which is on the north coast of Sardinia, only hit 40C, a long way short of its record high of 41.8C, set in 1983.

There are of course places further south in Sardinia which would naturally be much hotter, but there is no evidence that any of these were hotter this week than in the past. The BBC is particularly good at finding some obscure little village with a high temperature, without offering any historical perspective to compare it with.

And Sicily? Catania, the island’s biggest city, hit 39C on Wednesday. The record there is 46.7C, set in 1962.

.https://climexp.knmi.nl/ecatmax.cgi?id=someone@somewhere&WMO=2103&STATION=CATANIA/SIGONELLA&extraargs=

temperatures in Rome and Madrid could both reach the mid to high-40Cs.

As we have seen, Rome never got above 41.8C at the most.

As for Madrid, temperatures only reached 39C, nothing out of the ordinary at all for the nation’s capital:

In drought-stricken Spain, temperatures were set to reach highs of 44C in Catalonia

This is probably the most absurd forecast of the lot, as temperatures in Barcelona did not get above 30C!

It was hot this week in much of Europe, very hot in places.

But I have found no evidence that the heatwave was in any way unprecedented, never mind the inferno suggested.

CORRECTION

The temperature graph used for Madrid was actually Malaga! I have now replaced with the correct graph.

I have also included the KNMI chart for Catania, which has a longer data record