Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: One was killed, another injured in a raid by an Israeli drone on the city of Khiam in South Lebanon
London views possibility of setting fire to tanker in port of friendly country to Russia to damage port infrastructure, initiate an international probe: Moscow
One of London's scenarios involves setting up accident with 'undesirable' tanker in one of the bottlenecks of maritime communications: Russian foreign intelligence agency
London plans to organize major sabotage with tankers to declare transportation of Russian oil to international shipping: Russian foreign intelligence agency
UK intelligence agencies plan to use NATO allies to launch massive raid on 'Shadow Fleet': Russian foreign intelligence agency
Palestinian Ministry of Health: Two were martyred in Israeli shelling that targeted a besieged house in the town of Qabatiya in Jenin
At least 68 dead in migrant shipwreck off Yemen: IOM
Trump: We want to feed the people in Gaza, we do not want them to starve.
US President Donald Trump: We will impose sanctions on Russia if it does not end the war on Ukraine.
Israeli media: Polls show that 52% oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while only 29% support him.

Just Stop Oil activists follow suffragettes tactic amid charges filed

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 3 Dec 2022 16:08
3 Min Read

Charges of property damage are being filed against a protestor after they followed the same tactic and glued themselves to the frame of the Cranach painting.

  • x
  • Activists throw liquid at a Gustav Klimt painting in Vienna (AP)
    Activists throw liquid at a Gustav Klimt painting in Vienna (AP)

Almost 12 world-famous artworks were targeted by climate activists groups pertaining to the Just Stop Oil campaign as protestors throw food and liquid at the paintings and glue themselves to them, although no permanent damage to them has occurred. 

Just Stop Oil spokesperson Alex De Koning stated in an interview with Sky News that the example they lead by is that of the suffragettes who “violently slashed paintings in order to get their messages across", adding: “If things need to escalate then we’re going to take inspiration from past successful movements and we’re going to do everything we can,” 

Read next: Oil protestors plead not guilty to sabotaging Van Gogh painting

He said: “If that’s unfortunately what it needs to come to, then that’s unfortunately what it needs to come to.” The incident he is referring to goes back to 1914 when suffragette Mary Richardson walked into London’s National Gallery and slashed Diego Velazquez’s 17th-century painting The Rokeby Venus in protest against the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst.

“I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the government for destroying Mrs. Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history,” Richardson stated at the time. “Justice is an element of beauty as much as color and outline on canvas.”

Related News

Two UK climate protestors jailed for climbing bridge, delaying traffic

World snooker championship interrupted by Just Stop Oil protesters

Beginning in June, Just Stop Oil members glued themselves to four paintings in museums across the UK - one of them being van Gogh’s 1889 landscape, Peach Trees in Blossom. Soup was thrown at another van Gogh, The Sower (1888), by activists from Italy’s Ultima Generazione, and two protestors from Germany’s Letzte Generation group threw mashed potatoes at Claude Monet’s Haystacks (1890).

Are the tactics effective?

During an October panel about social consciousness in museums, Adam Weinberg, the director of the Whitney Museum of Art, expressed: “It’s people putting themselves on a stage in order to bring attention to something, but you have to ask, does this really change anything,”

92 signatories from cultural institutions released a public letter last month decried actions taken by the activists as they “severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage,” The letter continued: “As museum directors entrusted with the care of these works, we have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment.”

Charges of property damage were filed on Friday against a protestor after they followed the same tactic and glued themselves to the frame of the Cranach painting The Calm on the Run to Egypt at Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie.

Another incident occurred last month in Belgium whereby two protestors were given a two-month sentence for one of them gluing their hand to the wall next to Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the other attempted to glue his head to the painting.

The Guardian reported that the public prosecutor asked for four months in prison with two months suspended, clarifying in a hearing, “An artwork hanging there for all of us to enjoy has been smeared by defendants who felt their message took precedence over everything else.”

  • Just Stop Oil
  • Arts
  • Van Gogh
  • Climate crisis
  • paintings

Most Read

A rescued crew member from the ETERNITY C vessel in a video released by the Yemeni Armed Forces on July 28, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen Navy reveals fate of targeted Eternity C ship crew

  • Politics
  • 28 Jul 2025
An Israeli tank explodes following an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, Occupied Palestine, undated (Al-Qassam Military Media)

Al-Qassam strikes Israeli vehicles in Gaza, inflicts casualties

  • Politics
  • 30 Jul 2025
UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

  • Politics
  • 1 Aug 2025
Protesters chant anti-Israeli slogans as they carry a banner that reads:" Freedom for Palestine, Alliance stop the war," during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, outside the Israeli embassy, in Athens, Monday, June 9, 2025 (AP)

Athens mayor slams Israeli ambassador over Gaza war, graffiti claim

  • Politics
  • 3 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, takes part in a parade as he celebrates a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli regime in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, January 19, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Al-Qassam: We’ll allow aid to Israeli captives if Gaza siege ends

Freed Lebanese freedom fighter Georges Abdallah during an interview on Al Mayadeen, which aired on Sunday, August 3, 2025 (Al Mayadeen screengrab)
Politics

Exclusive: Resistance key to building state, Georges Abdallah says

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres gives a statement about the situation in Gaza at UN headquarters, Friday, June 27, 2025 (AP)
Politics

UN warns Gaza faces water crisis, looming famine under Israeli siege

Israeli soldiers drive their armored personnel carrier along the Gaza Strip, in southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, July 30, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ex-Israeli general says Gaza starvation campaign isolated 'Israel'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS