VIDEO. “Help the planet, eat the rich”: Lionel Messi's villa in Ibiza vandalized by environmental activists

La star argentine a été ciblée par les activistes. EPA – CJ GUNTHER

Activists from the “Futuro Vegetal” collective sprayed black and red paint on the facade of a luxury villa owned by football star Lionel Messi in Ibiza on Tuesday, in an action presented as a critique of “the responsibility of the rich” in the climate crisis.

In a video released to the public, two activists are filmed vandalizing the white facade of the house near Cala Tarida cove on Ibiza's west coast, holding a banner reading “Help the planet, eat the rich, abolish the police”.

In a press release, the collective, whose activists had stuck their hands on a Goya painting in Madrid's Prado museum in November 2022, claims to have wanted to draw attention to "the responsibility of the rich in the climate crisis" by targeting Messi's villa "illegal". Futuro Vegetal cites in particular an Oxfam report from 2023 ensuring that the richest 1% on the planet emit as much greenhouse gas as the poorest two thirds of the population.

🔴 Entren a la mansió de Leo Messi a Eivissa i l'ataquen amb pintura@FuturoVegetal afirma que la propietat és una "construcció il·legal" https://t.co/iE5uMydAMD pic.twitter.com/Cq0CIVCcSc

— NacióDigital (@naciodigital) August 6, 2024

Lionel Messi, who currently plays in Miami, United States, bought this villa which includes a spa with a sauna and a cinema room for around 11 million euros in 2022, according to the Spanish press. But he has still not been able to obtain a certificate of habitability, a document issued by local authorities that ensures that the residence can be occupied, because several rooms had been built on the property without a permit, according to Spanish media.

Futuro Vegetal, linked to other groups in other countries with similar modes of action, has already staged dozens of shock actions in Spain.

Not the first action by Futuro Vegetal

In addition to the action carried out at the Prado in 2022, they have also splashed fake oil the glass cage of a replica mummy at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona, ​​briefly interrupted a Davis Cup tennis match in Malaga, or sprayed paint in Ibiza on a yacht reputed to belong to the heiress of the American retail giant Walmart.

Last May, two Futuro Vegetal activists were sentenced in Pau (south of France) to six months in prison, suspended, for having damaged a gas station in September 2023, in France, about thirty kilometers from the Spanish border.

In January, the Spanish authorities announced the arrest of 22 members of the group, including the two who had stuck their hands on the Goya painting at the Prado Museum, and the three leaders of the collective.