The U.K. has jailed two activists for throwing soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting. The protestors wanted to highlight the damage to the climate caused by fossil fuels. One activist received a two-year prison sentence. The other got 20 months. In October 2022, the protestors threw tomato soup over Van Gogh's priceless painting. They also glued their hands to the wall. The soup did not harm the painting, but caused damage to the frame.
The court judge said the painting was a "cultural treasure" that could have been "seriously damaged". He said the activists, "couldn't have cared less if the painting was damaged or not". He said they had no right to do what they did. The protestors said that before throwing the soup, they checked to see if the painting was protected by glass. Museum staff worried about soup dripping through the glass.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Climate Protests - Level 5 or Climate Protests - Level 6
Sources- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly7zy3d3exo
- https://www.newsweek.com/climate-activists-prison-throwing-soup-van-gogh-sunflowers-1960549
- https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/27/climate/just-stop-oil-climate-activists-prison-van-gough-soup-intl/index.html
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