Two members of the “Just Stop Oil” group were sentenced this Friday by British courts to prison terms.
These two activists threw tomato soup on Van Gogh’s masterpiece, at the National Gallery, in October 2022 in London.
Just after this conviction, activists from “Just Stop Oil” again doused two paintings of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” with soup.
These are facts that date back to October 14, 2022. That day, two environmental activists from the “Just Stop Oil” group threw tomato soup on Van Gogh’s masterpiece, Sunflowers, at the National Gallery in London. This spectacular action only slightly damaged the frame surrounding the 1888 work, protected by glass.
Almost two years later, this Friday, September 27, these two activists were sentenced by British courts to prison terms. Phoebe Plummer, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison and Anna Holland, 22, received a 20-month prison term. “You had no right to do what you did to Tournesols”said Judge Christopher Hehri, who sentenced the two young women. “The soup could have seeped through the glass” and damage, “or even destroy” the famous painting, he added.
For its part, the NGO Greenpeace immediately denounced a “disproportionate sentence for a demonstration which caused minor damage to a painting frame and none to the canvas itself”. “This is another sinister step in the last government’s repression of peaceful protests”said Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK.
A new soup throw this Friday
At the time, “Just Stop Oil” called for an immediate halt to any new oil or gas projects in the UK, a move the new Labor government has committed to. Last July, four activists from the same organization, who had organized the blockade of a motorway, were sentenced to four years in prison by British courts. The founder, Roger Hallam, was sentenced to five years for having prepared this action.
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Just after the announcement of this conviction, this Friday, activists from Just Stop Oil once again doused two paintings with soup. of the Sunflowers of Van Gogh at the National Gallery, the environmental group said on “The paintings have been removed, they are being examined by the curator and are not damaged”said the museum in a press release sent to AFP.
