The Mona Lisa came under a ‘cake’ attack on Sunday after a male visitor disguised as a wheelchair-bound grandma hurled a slice of ‘gateau’ at the world’s best-known painting. The Telegraph has the story.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece was undamaged in the incident at the Louvre, as it is protected behind a thick, glass case.
The unnamed man said afterwards that he had carried out the stunt to raise awareness about the state of “the planet”.
The incident, which took place at lunchtime on Sunday, was caught on camera by several visitors among the hundreds queuing up to get a glimpse of “la Joconde”, as the French call the painting.
The man, who was wearing make-up and a black wig, was pushed to the front of the queue in a wheelchair. He then jumped up and hurled the slice of cake at the painting, which could be seen smeared in white icing.
He proceeded to throw red rose petals before being seized by museum security guards and led away. They could then be seen wiping off the cream with a cloth.
Incredulous visitors took to social media, with one saying: “I’ve just seen a man throw a piece of cake at the Mona Lisa.”
Another Twitter user said: “Maybe this is just nuts to me but a man dressed as an old lady jumps out of a wheelchair and attempted to smash the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa.
“Then proceeds to smear cake on the glass, and throws roses everywhere all before being tackled by security?”
Before being escorted out, the Frenchman was filmed saying: “Think about the Earth. There are people destroying the Earth. That’s why I did it. Think about the planet.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday that the man, 36, was detained following Sunday’s incident and sent to a police psychiatric unit.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the damage of cultural artifacts.
Is this one of the climate “nut jobs” HSBC’s Stuart Kirk warned us about last week?
With Margaret Thatcher’s new statue in Grantham targeted by vandals a second time at the weekend, on this occasion with Communist imagery, and the recent damage to oil depots by climate activists, among other examples, it appears that far Left criminal damage is becoming a major problem.
Worth reading in full.
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