Pro-Palestinian activists carried out two high-profile acts of vandalism and protest over the weekend, targeting major cultural landmarks in Australia and Greece.
In Melbourne, demonstrators defaced the Hochgurtel Fountain outside the Royal Exhibition Building, a UNESCO World Heritage site, spraying graffiti calling to “Sanction Israel” and “Free Gaza.”
They also dyed the fountain’s waters red and splashed a child statue in red paint, an apparent reference to civilian casualties in Gaza.
Melbourne Mayor Roshena Campbell condemned the vandalism, telling the Daily Mail that “enough is enough. Defacing public property does nothing to change the situation in Gaza, but it does cause real damage at home.”
Meanwhile, in Athens, members of Greece’s Communist Party (KKE) and its youth wing (KNE) unfurled banners on the cliffs of the Acropolis reading: “Stop the genocide; No cooperation with the murderous state of Israel; Free Palestine.”
Dozens of activists waving red flags denounced Israel, the United States, NATO and the European Union, demanding recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.
The Athens protest followed a wave of anti-Israel demonstrations across Greece during last month’s so-called “Day of Rage.”
