German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday criticized recent attacks by environmental activists on paintings in museums, saying there are "other ways to express an opinion".

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"I am saddened by what is happening and happy that no (...) irreparable damage has been caused" to the paintings, he said at a press conference in Berlin.

Several European museums have been targeted in recent days by actions of activists who have sprayed various substances on paintings to warn about global warming.

In Potsdam, near Berlin, it is a painting by Monet, the Haystacks, which was targeted last week by mashed potatoes. Activists had launched tomato soup on October 14 at Van Gogh's Sunflowers in London.

The paintings were protected by glass.

Even if it is necessary to “accept criticism and protests”, the Chancellor considered that “there are other ways of expressing an opinion”.

In Germany, street blockades and strike actions by environmental activists have increased in recent weeks, in the run-up to COP27, which will be held from November 6 to 18 in Egypt.

In the German capital, two activists glued themselves to a pole supporting the skeleton of a dinosaur on display in the Natural History Museum on Sunday.

Monday morning, a collective called "Letzte Generation" ("Last generation") again blocked a road in Berlin.

This action delayed, according to the German press, an ambulance which was to rescue a cyclist victim of a road accident.

"If this is confirmed, it is very regrettable", lamented Mr. Scholz, considering that it "is important that (help) arrives as quickly as possible to the injured".

The Letzte Generation group, for its part, indicated that it "cannot" rule out that the delay in relief was caused by the traffic jam that their action caused.

Questioned by AFP, neither the police nor the firefighters could confirm the facts.