After a soup attack on a van Gogh, 3 JustStopOil were sentenced to a ban from protesting in London.
On 27th September, three people entered the National Gallery in London and three tomato soups at two sunflower paintings by Vincent van Gogh. The people were identified as Stephen Simpson (age 71), Mary Somerville (age 77), and Phil Green (age 24); all of them were part of the climate action organization JustStopOil. Notably, the incident occurred just a day after two other JustStopOil activists were sentenced to jail for a similar attack in an art gallery.
The three activists were immediately apprehended and presented to the court. The National Gallery claimed that the attack had damaged the frames, which were also antique paintings. On October 28, they pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage The court announced that the case would go on trial in January next year while granting bail to the defendants. However, it also mandated that they were banned from organizing or joining any protests in London City.
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The decision came during a week marked by a series of climate-related incidents by JustStopOil, including putting high-visibility vests on various public statues. The backlash against the organization has also been picking up pace in the UK. A few days prior, a group of museum directors in the UK issued an open letter condemning the protests. The letter stated: “They are hugely damaging to the reputation of UK museums and cause enormous stress for colleagues at every level of an organisation, along with visitors who now no longer feel safe visiting the nation’s finest museums and galleries.”
