STORY: :: Just Stop Oil
Three activists from Just Stop Oil threw soup at two of Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings in London’s National Gallery on Friday…
Just hours after two members of the same group were sentenced to jail time…
:: October 14, 2022
:: Rich Felgate/ @finitedoc
…for doing the same thing in 2022.
In that incident, two members of the group threw tomato soup at a “Sunflowers” painting and then glued themselves to a wall.
PHOEBE PLUMMER: “What is worth more: art or life?”
That’s Phoebe Plummer in the video.
The now 23-year-old was handed a two year prison sentence for a criminal damage charge… plus an additional three months for the relatively new offense of interfering with the use of key national infrastructure.
PHOEBE PLUMMER: “…We cannot afford new oil and gas.”
The other activist from 2022 was Anna Holland, who was sentenced to 20 months.
The pair had pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said the soup toss caused over $13,000 worth of damage to the painting’s frame.
The work itself was behind a protective screen.
It was undamaged and went back on display the same day.
The judge said the pair had no right to do what they did, adding, quote, “your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation.”
Plummer said she was being made a political prisoner, an assertion that drew a critical rebuke from the judge.
:: File
There’s been a wider crackdown on protest movements in Britain and across Europe.
In July, five members of Just Stop Oil were jailed for at least four years for a conspiracy to block London’s M25 highway.
They were the longest sentences ever imposed for a non-violent protest in Britain.
:: Just Stop Oil
Friday’s soup throwers targeted one Van Gogh painting owned by the London gallery — the same one struck in 2022 — and another on loan.
The National Gallery said three people had been arrested…
and no damage had been done to the paintings
