Environmental activists attack national headquarters of PSOE and PP with black paint

Environmental activists attacked the national headquarters of the PSOE and PP in Madrid with black paint on Monday afternoon. The simultaneous protest actions were carried out by members of the Futuro Vegetal group. At least five members of the group were arrested for vandalising the headquarters of the two main political parties in Spain.

The Futuro Vegetal activists used an adapted fire extinguisher to turn it into a powerful paint spraying device. The group is a splinter group from Extinction Rebellion. It has been especially active in its protests in recent months. Among the most notable actions are members sticking themselves to a Goya painting in the Prado Museum on 5 November, 2022, and causing chaos on M-30 motorway in Madrid on 23 December during the Christmas holiday traffic rush. The group has also recently staged protests at a slaughterhouse in Huesca, a food factory, in a supermarket and against the Cortylandia tourist attraction in Madrid, where they threw red paint onto the stage.

Both the PP and the PSOE condemned the attacks against their headquarters. The general secretary of the PP in Madrid, Alfonso Serrano, said that "the radical left tries to intimidate those who come to PP events and also at our headquarters." For its part, the PSOE on Twitter rejected "any act of violence and intimidation against the political formations that legitimately represent citizens. We stand with other affected parties, and remind: we will continue to defend social justice in Spain, now and always," said the Socialist party.