Climate activists who targeted Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” to draw attention to climate change in the Netherlands were sentenced to 2 months in prison.
In a statement made by the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office, it was reported that two of the three activists who are members of the environmentalist group “Just Stop Oil” were sentenced to 2 months in prison, while the trial of the third activist continues.
In the statement, it was noted that the Prosecutor’s Office requested a 4-month prison sentence for each activist and in this way, it was wanted to give the message to the society that “Paintings are exhibited in museums for entertainment, not to harm activist purposes”.
Pointing out that the activists exceeded the limits of freedom of demonstration and expression by damaging the painting, the statement said that as a result of the case, in which the speedy trial procedure was applied with the consent of the two activists, the judges ruled for 2 months imprisonment.
In the prosecutor’s statement, it was emphasized that it was important that the case was decided in 6 days in order to prevent the international trend of targeting works of art by climate activists.
It was stated that there was no damage to the painting in the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, and that the incident cost the museum 2 thousand euros.
Activists had glued his head and hand to the painting
In the footage on Twitter, it was seen that one of the three activists, a member of the environmentalist group with the words “Just Stop Oil” on their clothes, glued his hand to the wall next to the painting with glue and the other glued his head to the protective glass in front of the painting, while the activists also poured tomato sauce on them.
The activists who attacked the painting at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague shouted, “How do you feel? How does it feel to watch something of inestimable value being destroyed in front of your eyes?” and “How does it feel to watch the world being destroyed in front of your eyes?”
On October 14, two members of the environmental group “Just Stop Oil”, which has been staging protests at museums across Europe, threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London.
In Germany, on October 24, two activists from the environmental group “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) threw mashed potatoes at a work by French painter Claude Monet in the “Les Mueles” series to draw attention to climate change.
