German police on Thursday searched several premises in Leipzig following a glue attack on Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” painting in Dresden earlier this year. 

The flats likely belong to climate activists of the group Last Generation who glued themselves to the famous artwork in August in a bid to call attention to the climate crisis.

“The measures are about finding evidence in connection with the crime,” the Dresden public prosecutor’s office said in a statement. More than 60 officers from the state criminal investigation office, riot police and local police stations were deployed, it said.

Investigations are under way into the suspicion of malicious damage to property.

According to information by the mass-circulation newspaper Bild, the flats belong to the two activists who had glued themselves to the frame of the artwork from 1512-13 in the Dresden Picture Gallery. According to earlier statements by the museum, this caused damage in the five-figure range.

Two men and a woman aged 22 and 29 are under investigation, the public prosecutor’s office stated, including a young man who was present during the action. He allegedly handed a banner to the others, filmed the action and spread the footage on social media. 

Climate activists have carried out similar actions in museums across the world this year. ©dpa