Italian environmental activists used dye to turn the water on Venice’s Grand Canal green on Saturday to protest what they see as a lack of progress at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Reuters reported, taken from news.ro.

Protesters from the group Extinction Rebellion, who dangled from the Rialto Bridge over the canal using climbing ropes, also held up a banner reading: “COP28: While the government talks, we hang by a thread.”

Small stretches of rivers and canals in Italian cities, from the Po in Turin in the north to the Tiber in Rome in the south, were also greened during similar protests.

“In a few hours, these waters will return to their former state,” Extinction Rebellion said. “Meanwhile, while governments speak, we are counting the damage and casualties caused by the ongoing floods and fires,” the group added in a statement.

The group said the visual effect was created by a harmless fluorescent dye used in industry to detect objects in water.

However, the mayor of Venice, Luigi Bruniaro, condemned what he called “eco-vandals” and asked the Italian authorities to punish them.

Boat traffic on the Grand Canal was suspended Saturday during the protest, and the water in the canal and the recently restored columns on the Rialto Bridge had to be checked for safety reasons, the mayor said.

“Venice is a fragile city, a city that needs to be loved and respected! Enough!”, he added.