The mansion did not have a certificate of occupancy due to the construction of rooms without a permit.
Madrid:
Climate activists spray-painted a mansion on Argentinian football star Lionel Messi’s Spanish holiday island Ibiza on Tuesday to highlight the “responsibility of the rich for the climate crisis”.
Campaigners from the group Futuro Vegetal released a video showing two members standing in front of the house near the bay of Cala Tarida on the west coast of Ibiza with a banner reading: “Help the planet – eat the rich – abolish the police .”
The activists then sprayed the white facade of the building with red and black paint.
In a statement, the group said they wanted to show “the responsibility of the rich for the climate crisis” by targeting the mansion which they said was an “illegal construction”.
Futuro Vegetal cited a 2023 Oxfam report showing that the richest one percent of the world’s population generated as much CO2 emissions as the poorest two-thirds of humanity in 2019, despite the fact that the most vulnerable communities are the ones suffering the effects of climate change. “worst consequences” of this crisis.
Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the US, reportedly bought the property on the Mediterranean island – which includes a spa with sauna and a cinema room – from a Swiss businessman in 2022 for around €11 million. .
But the mansion lacked a certificate of occupancy, a document issued by a local government authority proving it to be in a livable condition, due to the construction of several rooms in the property without a permit, according to Spanish media reports.
Futuro Vegetal, which is affiliated with similar groups internationally, has organized dozens of similar protests, including one in 2022, during which they glued their hands to frames of paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Goya in Madrid’s Prado Museum.
Last year, activists from the group spray-painted red and black a superyacht moored in Ibiza that allegedly belonged to Nancy Walton Laurie, the billionaire heiress of US retail giant Walmart.
Spanish police said in January they had arrested 22 members of the Futuro Vegetal, including the two who organized the Prado protest and the group’s three main leaders.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)