Citizens ask for "deterrent fines" for ecological attacks on works of art

MADRID, 7 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Ciudadanos intends that attacks on works of art to protest against climate change, such as the one registered in the Prado Museum in Madrid, be punished with "dissuasive" fines, since currently these actions have no consequences within the Spanish legal system.

This was announced this Monday by the president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, who at a press conference from the headquarters in the capital detailed that the party seeks to promote in Congress a reform of the Spanish Historical Heritage Law, of 1985, which contemplates sanction these behaviors, which he has branded as "counterproductive" in the framework of the fight against climate change.

Two activists from Futuro Vegetal stuck to the frames of Francisco de Goya's paintings 'The Naked Maja' and 'The Dressed Maja', exhibited at the Prado Museum, on Saturday, as a sign of protest against the climate emergency. Acts of this type have already been registered in other art galleries and against other works, such as 'The Sunflowers' by Vincent Van Gogh, in the National Gallery in London.

Emphasizing that Ciudadanos "shares" the fight against climate change and "works" to tackle it, Arrimadas stressed that these "counterproductive acts" are not "related" to works of art and are not "justified" either. "No one who takes climate change seriously is going to see any kind of connection between the attacks and the cause," he has said.

Thus, the 'orange' formation has analyzed the Spanish legal system and has verified that "there is a kind of gap" that leaves these actions outside of it and, therefore, have no consequence. "We want to stop these attacks dead in their tracks and make (activists) think twice before wanting to attract attention," he explained.

Ciudadanos sources advance that they will present a bill and a non-law proposal in Congress in this regard, but they have not yet established the amount of the economic sanction.