Eco-activists have been seized by police after spraying a huge world clock orange and glueing themselves to the landmark.
The protesters swarmed over the sculpture in the German capital Berlin, splattering it with paint from adapted fire extinguishers.
The demonstrators, from Germany’s Just Stop Oil-style Last Generation group, attacked the clock at 9am on 17th October.
During the demo, two activists scaled the top of the clock and unfurled a banner saying: “We are running out of time, away with fossil and in with fairness.”
Berlin Police said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “The world clock was sprayed with paint at Alexanderplatz and people were glued to it.”
The activists reportedly staged the demo under the noses of security guards standing just 50 metres away.
The police said: “The Alexanderplatz guard colleagues saw the climate activists smearing, reported it, and immediately ran there.
“But it was sprayed within a few seconds.”
On-site, police officers arrested seven activists who were glued to the clock.
The police said later: “Our colleague alerted that they found nine people on site who were damaging the World Clock, two of which were holding a banner.
“These two were not glued and were taken down with the support of the technical operations unit.”
Technical staff used a crane to get the two protesters down after they refused to come down for several hours.
The police added: “All of their personal details were identified and investigations into community-damaging property damage were initiated.”
The attack on the World Clock followed a month after Last Generation activists sprayed orange and yellow paint all over all six columns of the German capital’s most iconic sight, Brandenburg Gate, on 17th September.
It caused about EUR 35,000 (GBP 30,294) worth of damage.
Berlin’s World Clock was built in 1965 and it is possible to tell the time in 148 of the planet’s major cities from its display.
