LONDON (Reuters) – British police said on Saturday that two women were charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup over a Vincent van Gogh painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery.
A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been organizing protests for the past two weeks in the British capital, showed two of its activists on Friday throwing cans of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five copies on display in museums and galleries around the world.
The gallery said the accident caused minor damage to the frame, but the painting was not damaged. Later returned to the show.
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Police said two women, aged 21 and 20, would later appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on charges of “criminal damage to the frame of a Van Gogh Sunflowers painting”.
Another activist will also appear in court for allegedly destroying the sign outside the new Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London.
Police said a total of 28 people were arrested during Friday’s protests.
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Michael Holden reports. Editing by Emilia Sithole Mataris
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