The facade of the Louis-Vuitton Foundation in Paris was covered with paint on Monday morning, AFP learned from the environmental organization Extinction Rebellion, which claimed responsibility for this action, in particular to denounce “tax optimization” of the LVMH group. In a video posted on Twitter by journalist Clément Lanot, a group of activists was filmed spraying the establishment – closed on Monday May 1 – with orange and pink paint.
The activists threw paint on the transparent facades using “extinguishers” and using “paint bombs” formed from “small balloons”, a spokesperson for the organization told AFP. AFP. The action led by “about thirty” activists, according to the organization, took place around 9:30 a.m. and lasted “about ten minutes”. Extinction Rebellion intended through this action, to target the luxury group LVMH which it accuses of “tax optimization”.
“In this current social context where the French are giving up one meal a day because of inflation, the health of large groups is indecent,” said the spokesperson. “The wage and social demands of the unions have our full support,” added the spokesperson, in reference to the inter-union procession of May 1 which must start from the Place de la République from 2:00 p.m.
Located in the Bois de Boulogne, the Fondation Louis-Vuitton, one of the busiest museums in Paris, is currently presenting the exhibition Basquiat x Warhol, à quatre mains.
A few kilometers away, another Parisian site, Place Vendôme, was also targeted by the environmental collective Last Renovation. The “six citizens” who took part in the action were “arrested”, a spokesman for the movement told AFP. Around noon, they threw orange paint “using fire extinguishers” on the facade and forecourt of the Ministry of Justice, the organization said in a statement.
On this Place Vendôme, known throughout the world for its luxury jewellery, the facade of the Ritz hotel was also targeted by jets of paint launched by means of balloons. “This action marks the urgency to resist in order to combine climate justice and social justice”, justified the organization in a press release. “By protecting the ultra-rich, who are primarily responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, our government is weakening the poorest among us”, she denounced, also attacking “the unfair pension reform”, “a climate-killing law”.
“By pushing workers to work two more years, it supports a productivist and polluting economy that depletes natural resources and disrupts ecosystems,” she added in her statement. Founded in early 2022, Last Renovation has multiplied brilliant actions to demand an ambitious energy renovation plan, disrupting the Tour de France, Roland-Garros, a PSG-OM match or the César ceremony.