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

By: Daniella Matar, The Associated Press Posted: 12:13 PM CST Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024

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

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

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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.”

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)

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.”