Climate activists targeted one of America’s founding documents Wednesday, dumping pink powder on the bulletproof case that protects the US Constitution.
The shocking incident took place at around 2:30 p.m. at the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, DC, which was forced to close to the public as a result of the mess.
“We are determined to foment a rebellion,” one of the activists, covered in the pinkish red dust, said shortly after the substance was poured on the 237-year old document, video taken of the aftermath shows.
“Joe Biden needs to declare a climate emergency,” he later said.
DC’s Metropolitan Police Department arrested both individuals and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will handle the case, a spokesperson for the National Archives and Record Administration told The Post.
“It will be treated as a federal crime,” they added, noting that the perpetrators indicated that the pink substance was powdered paint.
The Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights have been on display in the National Archives Rotunda since 1952.
The three documents, known as the “Charters of Freedom,” are protected in bulletproof and moisture-controlled sealed cases, making it unlikely that the Constitution was damaged during the incident.
“The National Archives Rotunda is the sanctuary for our nation’s founding documents,” Dr. Colleen Shogan, archivist of the US, said in a statement. “They are here for all Americans to view and understand the principles of our nation. We take such vandalism very seriously and we will insist that the perpetrators be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The rotunda will be closed for cleaning Thursday but the rest of the galleries will reopen on schedule, according to the National Archives.
On Monday, nearly two dozen climate activists were arrested outside President Biden’s Wilmington, Del., campaign headquarters after they stormed the building and refused to leave.
The protest, organized by the Sunrise Movement, saw demonstrators waving signs that also demanded that Biden, 81, “declare a climate emergency.”
