Supporters of Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland protest in front of Southwark Crown Court on September 27, 2024 in London, England.
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Three Stop Oil activists threw soup on two Vincent Van Gogh paintings of “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London on Friday, just hours after two other members of the protest group were charged with murder in 2022. Sentenced to jail for doing the same thing.
Activists threw tomato soup at “Sunflowers,” which is owned by the London gallery and another in a series on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a temporary exhibition.
The National Gallery said three people were arrested and the paintings were not harmed.
The stunt came just hours after Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were charged over the London artwork in October 2022. Sentenced for throwing a can of tomato soup and then sticking himself to the wall beneath a painting.
Prosecutors said Tong caused up to £10,000 ($13,385) of damage to the frame in 2022, although the painting, which was behind a protective screen, was not damaged and was put back on display later that day.
Plummer and Holland both pleaded not guilty but were convicted following a trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, with Plummer jailed for two years for criminal damage. Holland was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Judge Christopher Hehir said Plummer and Holland had “caused irreparable damage and even destruction” to the painting, which he said “could be priceless in a literal sense”.
Plummer said she went to the protests knowing she could be arrested and jailed, saying she was becoming a political prisoner.
The judge said it was absurd and self-indulgent.
“This is offensive to the many people in other parts of the world who have been persecuted, imprisoned and even killed for their beliefs,” he said.
Plummer was also sentenced on Friday to an additional three months in prison for the relatively new offense of interfering with the use of critical national infrastructure.
Friday’s verdict comes amid a wider crackdown on protest movements in Britain and across Europe.
Stop Oil activists have staged a series of high-profile protests in recent years, including disrupting sporting events, theater performances and road traffic.
Five members of the group, including co-founder Roger Hallam, were jailed for at least four years in July for plotting to block London’s M25 motorway in the UK’s first-ever non-violent protest and the maximum sentence imposed.
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