Van Gogh-defacing Gen Z activists plead not responsible in courtroom.

Two girls, age 20 and 21, had been charged in relation to the soup-throwing protest on Friday, whereas a 3rd was charged over paint sprayed on a rotating signal on the Metropolitan Police’s headquarters in central London. The three girls pleaded not responsible to felony injury at Westminster Magistrates’ Court docket throughout two transient hearings Saturday.

Demonstrators from local weather change protest teams Extinction Insurrection and Simply Cease Oil, which desires the U.Ok. authorities to halt new oil and fuel tasks, staged a collection of protests in London on Friday.

Simply Cease Oil stated activists dumped two cans of tomato soup over the Van Gogh oil portray, one of many Dutch artist’s most iconic works. The 2 protesters additionally glued themselves to the gallery wall.

Prosecutor Ola Oyedepo stated the pair didn’t hurt the oil portray, which was lined by a glass protecting case, however injury was brought about to the body.

The portray, certainly one of a number of variations of “Sunflowers” that Van Gogh painted within the late Eighties, was cleaned and returned to its place within the Nationwide Gallery on Friday afternoon.

District choose Tan Irkam launched the ladies on bail given that they don’t have paint or adhesive substances on them in a public place.

Police stated they made some 28 arrests in relation to Friday’s protests, and 25 others had been bailed pending additional investigation. On Saturday, police arrested an additional 26 folks after Simply Cease Oil protesters blocked a significant street in east London. Some demonstrators glued themselves to the street floor.

Simply Cease Oil has drawn consideration, and criticism, for his or her disruptive techniques, together with focusing on artworks in museums. In July, activists glued themselves to the body of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Final Supper” at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain” within the Nationwide Gallery.

Activists have additionally blocked bridges and intersections throughout London throughout two weeks of protests towards the U.Ok. authorities’s method to local weather change.

The most recent wave of demonstrations got here as Prime Minister Liz Truss ‘ Conservative authorities opened a brand new licensing spherical for oil and fuel operations within the North Sea and reversed a 2019 ban on fracking in England. Environmentalists say the U.Ok. authorities was undermining the struggle towards local weather change.