Climate activists spray orange paint on Senate building in Rome

Activists from the environmental group Ultima Generazione, or Last Generation, targeted Italy's Senate building in the capital Rome on Monday in a bid to draw attention to climate change.

Video footage shared by Ultima Generazione on Twitter showed members of the group spraying orange paint on the building.

Later, police officers are shown arriving on the scene and intervening against them.

The group said on Twitter that the protest was held in response to the government's policy on new drilling activities for natural gas and the reopening of decommissioned coal-fired power plants.

Following the protest, the group was highly criticized on social media for being "vandals."

Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Twitter that those who think they are defending the environment by vandalizing an institution's building "understand little."

"Those who justify the vandals who defile demonstrate that they understand even less," he added.

Replying to Renzi's tweet, the group said that those who take part in fossil fuel projects are vandals.