Ready for the trial. The activists of the “Sunflowers” free, however banned from museums.

Three environmental activists from the Simply Cease Oil motion appeared in a London court docket on Saturday. Two of them had thrown tomato soup on Friday on Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Sunflowers” on the Nationwide Gallery.

Anna Holland, a 20-year-old younger girl from Newcastle, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, from the south of the capital, are accused of harm for an quantity of lower than 5000 kilos, the portray not having been broken as a result of protected by glass. They pleaded not responsible.

Friday, throughout a spectacular motion, that they had thrown tomato soup on the well-known portray of the Dutch painter, earlier than sticking to the wall. Solely the body had been barely broken and the canvas had rapidly discovered its place within the museum.

This stunt is a part of a sequence of actions launched for the reason that starting of October by the Simply Cease Oil motion which requires the cessation of hydrocarbon exploitation in the UK, which the federal government of Liz Truss has determined to speed up within the midst of the worldwide vitality disaster.

The decide launched them on the situation that they don’t enter any museum or gallery, and not use paint or adhesive substances in public areas. Their trial is ready for December 13.

“Guerrilla acts”

The third activist, Lora Johnson, 38 and from Suffolk, is accused of committing harm by protecting a rotating panel in orange paint outdoors the headquarters of Scotland Yard on Friday in London. She additionally pleaded not responsible, was launched and her trial is ready for November 23. Different demonstrators caught to the street and the police claimed to have arrested 24 folks.

“The court docket won’t forestall you from protesting legally,” mentioned the decide throughout the listening to, whereas the Minister of the Inside desires to toughen the repression in opposition to protest actions like Simply Cease Oil, accusing them of acts of “guerrilla”. A number of Simply Cease Oil activists have already been sentenced to jail for his or her protest actions.

TTY