Two Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists have been jailed for throwing soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting after they came close to “destroying” the masterpiece. BBC News has more.
Phoebe Plummer, 23 and Anna Holland, 22, were previously convicted of criminal damage after the contents of two tins of tomato soup were poured on to the priceless 1888 piece at the National Gallery in central London.
They then glued their hands to the wall beneath it.
The pair caused £10,000 worth of damage to the gold-coloured frame of the glass-covered painting in the October 2022 attack.
Plummer received a two-year jail term at Southwark Crown Court, while Holland was handed 20 months.
Outside the court, a number of JSO supporters gathered, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism.
Staff at the gallery were worried the soup may have dripped through the protective glass and destroyed the painting, the court heard.
It also heard that the damaged frame had been purchased by the gallery in 1999 and was valued at £28,000.
Sentencing the women, Judge Christopher Hehir said the “cultural treasure” could have been “seriously damaged or even destroyed”. …
The judge told Plummer, who was also handed a criminal behaviour order: “You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. You do not.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: In response to the incarcerations, Just Stop Oil activists have today thrown soup over two of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings in “a sign of defiance”. Gluttons for punishment, it seems.
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I’m 50 and had my second text today begging me to come for the jab. I don’t want it and the story above gives me some excuse. Though I don’t want the Pfizer much either. If I wait long enough I think they will ban all the jabs for under 55s because there really is no benefit. No risk of covid to mitigate against with something being run through an early testing program
France declares the over 55s are expendable.