Climate activists jailed for throwing soup at Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'

LONDON — Climate campaigners on Friday hit out at stiff jail sentences given to two activists who threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at a London gallery, voicing fears about the right to peaceful protest.

Just Stop Oil protesters Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were convicted in July of criminal damage after pouring tomato soup over the screen protecting the still life masterpiece at the National Gallery in October 2022.

Plummer was jailed for two years and Holland for 20 months. Both had pleaded not guilty.

Greenpeace UK's co-executive director, Will McCallum, called the sentence "a draconian and disproportionate punishment for a protest that caused minor damage to a picture frame".

Sentencing the pair, Judge Christopher Hehir said the painting could have been "seriously damaged or even destroyed".

"Soup might have seeped through the glass. You couldn't have cared less if the painting was damaged or not," he added.

"You had no right to do what you did to 'Sunflowers'."

Addressing Plummer, he said "you think your beliefs entitle you to do anything.

"The suggestion that you and others like you in a democracy are political prisoners is ludicrous, offensive and idiotic. You have no remorse and you are proud."

The gallery, located in Trafalgar Square, said the protesters caused around £10,000 ($13,420) in damage to the frame but the painting itself was protected by a screen and was unharmed.

Holland and Plummer also glued themselves to the gallery wall during their protest.

"What is worth more -- art or life?" Plummer had shouted.

Both are expected to serve around half of their sentences in custody.

'What matters most?' 

"It's another grim milestone in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful protest waged by the last government," Greenpeace UK's McCallum said.

"Protest is by its nature inconvenient and occasionally messy. These defendants do not deserve to spend years behind bars for standing up for a liveable planet."

Speaking before the sentencing, Holland said: "We do not expect justice from a broken system that has been corrupted by its dependence on fossil fuels. Prison sentences, no matter how long, will not deter us."

Just Stop Oil wants an end to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas and say the greenhouse gas emissions they create are "driving us towards climate collapse... [that] spells disaster for human societies globally".

It has staged a number of high-profile stunts in recent years to draw attention to their plea to "end fossil fuels before they end us".

The group has targeted the Wimbledon tennis tournament and British Open golf tournament, as well as art galleries and museums and a performance of "Les Miserables".

Five activists, including the climate group's founder, were given between four and five years in jail in June for conspiring to plan protests that blocked the M25 orbital motorway around London.

At the time of sentencing, Plummer has already spent 58 days on remand in prison for another protest at London's Heathrow Airport in July.

Just Stop Oil says climate change poses an existential crisis for humanity and that its direct tactics are justified.

In July 2022, Just Stop Oil protesters glued themselves to the frame of John Constable's pastoral masterpiece "The Hay Wain", also in the National Gallery.