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Several hundred protesters donned the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, demanding measures to combat climate change and banning the entry of cruise ships into the lagoon city
(Adds protesters leaving, quotes from Mick Jagger and Donald Sutherland)
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
VENICE, Italy, September 7 (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters took to the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival for several hours on Saturday, calling for measures to combat climate change and banning the entry of cruise ships in the lagoon.
Dressed in white overalls, some 300 protesters sat on the red carpet where Hollywood stars Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix presented their latest films during the eleven-day event.
Waving banners that read "Our house is on fire" and "No to cruise ships", protesters sat in front of the main festival site and chanted slogans, surrounded by police.
"We want to address the subject of the climate crisis, we think it is more important than anything we can see in the world at present," said Chiara Buratti, member of the anti-cruise ship committee of Venice , adding that the protesters wanted celebrity endorsements for their cause.
The protesters arrived early in the morning but left peacefully several hours later, around 12:00 GMT.
Saturday is the last day of the festival, which is held on the Venice Lido, and the winner of the Golden Lion Award will be announced in the evening. Buratti said the protesters were also planning a march elsewhere on the Lido later in the day.
Protesters, who belong to Italian and foreign groups, were attending a five-day climate camp in Venice.
"The climate crisis has no borders, why should we stop at a border and worry about the local problems we have here," said protester Sina Reisch of the German group Ende Gelande. "We must see that struggles are linked."
The protesters were supported by rocker Mick Jagger and veteran actor Donald Sutherland, who will hit the red carpet later to present their thriller "The Burnt Orange Heresy".
"I'm happy that they do it because they are the ones who will inherit the planet," Jagger said at a press conference to promote the film.
"We are in a very difficult situation right now, especially in the United States, where all the environmental controls put in place, which may have been about sufficient for the last ten years, have been canceled by this government. so much that they will be annihilated ".
"I'm glad people feel so strongly that they want to protest anywhere, whether on the red carpet or anywhere else."
Sutherland said the environmental protesters had to "fight harder" and "get as much support as possible," supporters of the migrants' plight said.
"When you are 85 years old and you have children and grandchildren, you will not give them anything if we do not vote for those people who are removed from office in Brazil, London and Washington. They ruin the world, "he said. "We contributed to its destruction, but they assure it." (Report by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, additional report by Roberto Mignucci, edited by Helen Popper and Jason Neely)
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