Climate activists attack Messi's mansion in Ibiza, Spain August 7, 2024

Messi and his house

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Climate activists attack Messi's mansion in Ibiza, Spain

On Tuesday, climate activists spray-painted a mansion on the Spanish island of Ibiza belonging to Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi to highlight the “responsibility of the rich for the climate crisis”.

Activists from the group Futuro Vegetal released a video showing two members in front of the house, near the Cala Tarida cove on Ibiza's west coast, holding a banner that read: “Help the planet - Eat the rich

-- Abolish the police”.

The activists then painted the white façade 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 attacking the mansion, which they said was an “illegal construction”.

Futuro Vegetal cited an Oxfam report from 2023 which found that the richest 1% of the world's population generated the same amount of carbon emissions in 2019 as the poorest two-thirds of humanity, even though the most vulnerable communities are the ones suffering the “worst consequences” of this crisis.

Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the US, allegedly bought the property on the Mediterranean island - which includes a spa with a sauna and a movie theater - in 2022 from a Swiss businessman for around 11 million euros ($12 million).

However, the mansion did not have a certificate of occupancy, a document issued by a local government agency certifying that it is fit to be lived in, due to the construction of several rooms on the property without a permit, according to Spanish media reports.

Futuro Vegetal, which is linked to similar groups internationally, has held dozens of similar protests, including one in 2022 when they glued their hands to frames of paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Goya at the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Last year, activists from the group spray-painted a superyacht moored in Ibiza with red and black paint that allegedly belonged to Nancy Walton Laurie, the billionaire heiress of US retail giant Walmart.

In January, Spanish police said they had arrested 22 members of Futuro Vegetal, including the two who carried out the protest in the Prado, as well as the group's three main leaders.

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