Prison sentences for activists who vandalized 'Sunflowers' painting

In a court hearing on September 27, Phoebe Plummer (23) and Anna Holland (22), members of the Just Stop Oil protest group, were sentenced to two years and 20 months in prison, respectively, for criminal vandalism. In October 2022, they threw two cans of tomato soup onto Van Gogh's famous painting "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London, damaging the artwork's gold frame.

Phoebe Plummer (left) and Anna Holland after splashing soup on the painting "Sunflowers" in October 2022. Photo: Just Stop Oil/PA Media

The "Sunflowers", worth more than $84 million, is protected by protective glass, but protesters are accused of causing £10,000 (more than $13,000) worth of damage to the painting's gold frame.

In court, Judge Christopher Hehir reprimanded Plummer and Holland, saying their actions could have caused "cultural treasures" to be "seriously damaged or even destroyed".

"The soup could have seeped through the glass. You didn't care if the painting was damaged. You had no right to do what you did to 'Sunflowers'," he said in court.

This is the latest in a series of prison sentences handed down to climate activists in the UK for taking part in protests against the use of fossil fuels.

However, these sentences appear to have had little deterrent effect on the Just Stop Oil movement. Hours after the sentences were handed down, three more Just Stop Oil activists threw soup at two more Van Gogh sunflower paintings in the Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery, the same location where the 2022 protests took place.

Hoai Phuong (according to CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/an-tu-cho-nhung-nha-hoat-dong-pha-hoai-buc-hoa-huong-duong-cua-van-gogh-post314453.html