Two environmental activists is expected to to be brought before a court today after were arrested for throwing pink powder into a glass case housing the US Constitution at the National Archives Museum in Washington.

The precious document, which consists of four sheets of parchment, was unharmed as its cover protected it, the National Archives said, denouncing an “act of vandalism”.

The police arrested two men on Wednesday afternoon. The rotunda of the museum remained closed today, so that the area could be cleaned.

Videos posted on social media sites show two men standing next to the display cases, their hands and clothes covered in a pink dust. Paraphrasing the Constitution, they told museum visitors that they believe everyone on the planet has a right to clean air and a sustainable climate and called on US President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency. Shortly after, they were taken into custody by museum security.

In recent years, climate change activists have targeted paintings and other works of art to draw attention to their cause. In 2022 an activist threw a cake at Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in the Louvre. A few months later, two activists poured tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, causing minor damage to the frame. Other activists glue their hands to famous works of art.

The National Archives announced that the rotunda and display case with the text of the Constitution will soon be accessible to the public again. “We take this vandalism very seriously and will insist that the perpetrators be prosecuted,” US Archivist Colleen Sogan said in a statement.