Eco-activists pour syrup and beetroot juice over displays at Egyptian museum in Barcelona

Eco-activists poured syrup and beetroot juice – to represent oil and blood – over displays at the Egyptian Museum of Barcelona today as they called for a ‘radical system change’ to save us from ‘climate emergency’.

The two protesters, from the Extinction Rebellion affiliated group Futuro Vegetal – or Vegetable Future – targeted a replica pharaonic mummy, as world leaders gather in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh for the Cop27 climate summit.

The duo poured liquid over display cases and picture frames before gluing their hands to the wall and declaring: ‘We are going through climate collapse, we need to act now. Politicians will not save us from this situation of climate emergency. We need to act.’

They also displayed a banner criticising Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of Cop27 and warning about a 2.5-degree rise in global temperatures.

In a statement on Twitter afterwards the group said: ‘We have a hard time believing that the world’s number one corporation in plastic pollution is not going to exert its influence as a sponsor of Cop27 in favour of its commercial interests, given its total dependence on fossil fuels.

Two eco-activists from the group Futuro Vegetal poured syrup and beetroot juice over display cases before gluing their hands to the wall and displaying a banner criticising Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of Cop27 and warning about a 2.5-degree rise in global temperatures

The pair targeted a replica pharaonic mummy at the Egyptian Museum of Barcelona as world leaders gather in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh for the Cop27 climate summit

‘Current policies on climate change for 2030 lead us to +2.5 ºC in 2060, which will mean an increase in extreme weather events incompatible with the life of most crops for human consumption and consequent famines.

‘The historical moment we live in places us in two positions: either we revolutionise the current way of life towards a radical system change that democratises decision-making… or we are doomed to extinction. 

‘Help us to continue fighting for a future for all.’

Last Saturday two female activists from the same group glued themselves to the frames of two paintings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado Museum. 

The pair scrawled the message +1.5 degrees Celsius between the paintings they targeted – the Naked Maja and the Clothed Maja – a reference to the damaging differences to the planet which will be seen at two degrees as opposed to 1.5. 

Futuro Vegetal said in a tweet showing the women stuck to the paintings: ‘We have stuck ourselves to Goya’s Mijas in the Prado Museum.

‘Last week the United Nations recognised the impossibility of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels in line with the Paris Agreement.’

Last week two female activists glued themselves to the frames of two paintings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado Museum

The group added that not sticking to the limit will lead to more extreme weather such as drought, endangering the farming and food industries.

It said: ‘We need change now. We need a plant-based future [literal translation: Vegetable future].’

Video footage from the scene appears to show museum staff attempting to stop bystanders filming the protest.

The protest followed close on the heels of an incident last month in which activists from Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.

Days later climate activists threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in Germany.