Friday saw two climate activists being arrested after they poured tomato soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting, and then glued themselves to the wall of the National Gallery in London.
Just Stop Oil is a coalition of climate alarmists calling for the U.K. to stop all new oil and gas projects. The protesters are female members of a group called Just Stop Oil. At 11:15 a.m., they entered the National Gallery 43, where van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” is displayed. They then threw two cans of Heinz tomato broth over the painting.
Art or life is more valuable than art? It is worth more than food. Is justice more important than justice? Do you care more about protecting a painting than protecting our planet and its people? Part of the oil crisis’s cost of living is the cost of fuel. Millions of hungry, cold families cannot afford fuel. According to Just Stop Oil activists, one activist said that they couldn’t afford to heat a tin soup.
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According to the London Metropolitan Police, the protesters were detained for criminal damage as well as aggravated trespass. Specialized officers were dispatched to the scene to remove them and they were taken to a central London station.
Police said that the frame sustained minor damage, but that the painting worth $80 million was not damaged.
The protective glass is used to protect Van Gogh’s paintings in museums.
Just Stop Oil stated that the National Gallery protest was the culmination of “two weeks” of civil resistance by the group in response to government inaction on the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis.
CNBC News reported that the U.K. North Sea Transition Authority (an agency responsible for oil and gas reserves in the North Sea) began issuing new licenses to companies engaged in underwater fossil fuel exploration earlier this month.
The government had stopped issuing new licenses in 2020 to conduct a “climate compatibility test,” but Liz Truss, Conservative Prime Minister, announced that the process would be resumed.
This is not a one-off event. Just Stop Oil stated that this is an act against a criminal government and its genocidal murder project. “Our supporters will return today, tomorrow, and the day after that. And every day thereafter until our demand is satisfied: No new oil or gas in the U.K.”
Infuriating drivers, the group has been disrupting traffic in London over recent weeks. Video footage from the Oct. 9 protest shows frustrated motorists getting out of their cars and pulling the protesters off the streets to clear the roads.
One man in the video says, “I need to go to the hospital for an appointment, I’m blind, let me continue with my life and cease interfering with our lives.”
In response to the current energy crisis in Europe, Truss’ government lifted the 2019 ban on hydraulic drilling. To reduce dependence on Russia’s natural gas exports, Conservative MPs have called for an increase in domestic energy production.
