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Chamonix, France (dpa) - Danish artist Marco Evaristti has encountered massive opposition to his plan to colour the tip of Mont Blanc mountain in the French Alps with red food colouring.
"Silly and illegal" was how the mayor of the nearby town of Chamonix, Michel Charlet, described the project atop Europe's highest mountain on Thursday.
The 48-year-old Dane is seeking to draw attention to the pollution of the Alps by tourists.
Evaristti already attracted attention last year with a display of live goldfish in a mixer at an exhibition in Austria, at which he invited visitors to switch on the machines.
Charlet said he would call in the mountain rescue service if Evaristti went ahead with the unauthorized project.
"Damaging a protected natural habitat is a crime for which you can incur a prison sentence," he warned.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
