More than 100 people protest over 'unsustainable' 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina

More than 100 people protest over ‘unsustainable’ 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) show a banner in Italian reading: “Milano-Cortina 2026, from the mountains to the city, unsustainable Olympics”, as they march in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, against the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) hold signs in Italian reading: “Concreting, privatization, eviction” as they march in front of the building site of the 2026 Winter Olympic village in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, to protest the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) march in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, to protest the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) smash signs in Italian reading: “Concreting, privatization, eviction” as they march in front of the building site of the 2026 Winter Olympic village in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, to protest the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) hold a sign in Italian reading: “Where is the snow?"" as they march in front of the building site of the 2026 Winter Olympic village in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, to protest the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Activists of the C.I.O Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Commetee) march in Milan, northern Italy, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, against the prospected costs of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will be disputed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

By DANIELLA MATAR

MILAN (AP) — More than 100 people turned up to protest over the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics, despite the inclement weather.

Around 150 people gathered in the pouring rain on Saturday outside the construction site for the Olympic Village in Milan.

Many held banners and placards against what organizers of the protest called “the most unsustainable Games ever.”

One sign was in the shape of the Olympic logo of five rings, with the words “concreting,” “gentrification,” “greenwashing,” “privatization” and “eviction” written in the circles.

Each of the circles was later smashed.

The march was organized by the Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi (Unsustainable Olympics Committee) against the rising costs and environmental damage, with less than two years until the start of the Games.

Organizers said that as well as the cost of the much-debated bobsled track in Cortina and other construction work, the mountains were being destroyed as hundreds of trees were being cut down.

They railed against the decision to rebuild the century-old track in Cortina, “spending more than 100 million euros of public money on a sport that is practiced by only 20 people in the whole of Italy.”

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