Two environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil movement glued themselves to the frame of a painting by Van Gogh on Thursday.
They targeted the work
Peach Trees in Blossom
, made in 1889 and exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery in London (UK).
"Sorry everyone, we don't want to do that," said Louis Mckechnie, a 21-year-old activist, in a video posted by the association.
“We are glued to this painting, this magnificent painting, because we are terrified for our future.
Already arrested 20 times, the young man spent six weeks in prison last winter for blocking the motorway surrounding London.
BREAKING: Just Stop Oil protesters have glued themselves to a Vincent Van Gogh painting at London's Courtauld Gallery.
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Stop fossil fuel projects
In March 2022, he also distinguished himself by attaching himself to a goal post during a football match.
He recently said he is ready to become "public enemy No. 1" to raise awareness about the climate crisis, setting no limits as long as actions are "non-violent" and do not endanger lives.
In the video, the two activists from Just Stop Oil evoke and condemn the "40 new fossil fuel projects of the government", a figure frequently quoted by environmental associations.
They considered that signing each of them was equivalent to “signing our death warrant”.
Another action in a Scottish museum
Just Stop Oil points out that this action comes at a time when Provence, the French region painted by Van Gogh, is in danger of suffering from drought.
For its part, the Courtauld Gallery explained that the room where the painting is exhibited was “immediately closed to the public” after the incident.
The museum reopened normally on Friday.
According to Just Stop Oil, five of its activists were arrested on Wednesday after an action in Scotland.
In a museum in Glasgow, they painted inscriptions on the floor and a wall and stuck to the frame of a 19th-century painting of a landscape in the Scottish Highlands.
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