Two young protestors appeared in court on Saturday after throwing two tin cans of tomato soup at a painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. The two protestors were wearing “Just Stop Oil” t-shirts and then glued their hands to the wall beneath the soup-stained artwork. The young women were unglued from the wall and arrested by police.
Anna Holland, 20, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, of Clapham, south London were made to appear in front of the Westminster magistrates court on Saturday for charges of criminal damages. No damage occurred to the $80.99 million iconic work of art, however, the frame reportedly sustained damage during the staged protest. The protestors pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The protest on Friday was the 14th day of the grassroots group’s “continuous disruption” which is expected to last for more than a month. Just Stop Oil, according to their website, is a “coalition of groups working together to ensure that the government commits to ending all new licenses and consents for the exploration, development, and production of fossil fuels in the [United Kingdom].” The protests are in response to the United Kingdom's decision to reverse a 2019 fracking ban.
Lora Johnson, 38, of Reydon, Suffolk, also appeared in court on Saturday after being charged with criminal damage to the New Scotland Yard sign which she, and others, covered in yellow paint.
At least 28 arrests have been made in connection to the Just Stop Oil demonstrations on Friday, according to the Metropolitan police. Police arrested another 26 protestors on Saturday who had blocked a major road in east London with some protestors holding banners and others actually gluing themselves to the road. Police arrested 26 of these persons on suspicion of willfully obstructing a highway.
The disruptions have angered some, with one angry motorist actually throwing a can of soda at one demonstrator, and another motorist appearing to threaten the blockade with running them over.
The latest demonstrations by Just Stop Oil, which first launched in February of 2022 and held a month of protests in April, have been spurred on by the new Prime Minister Liz Truss and her Conservative government’s decisions to do away with a 2019 ban on fracking in England. The government has instead plowed ahead with the decision to allow oil and gas operations in the North Sea through the first drilling licenses seen by the country in almost three years.