Just Stop Oil radicals sentenced to jail for throwing soup at van Gogh art — comrades respond as expected
Two members of the environmental extremist group Just Stop Oil will spend a considerable time behind bars after they threw soup at a priceless painting from legendary artist Vincent van Gogh.In October 2022, Anna Holland and Phoebe Plummer marched into the National Gallery in London and threw tomato soup at "Sunflowers," a work of art van Gogh painted in 1888. They subsequently glued their hands to the wall underneath it as well.'Non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency.'The soup caused roughly £10,000 — or about $13,400 — worth of damage to the frame surrounding the painting but, thankfully, did not damage the painting itself.But it could have, Judge Christopher Hehir of the Southwark Crown Court argued during their sentencing hearing on Friday. For that reason, Hehir sentenced both defendants to prison after a jury back in July found them guilty of criminal damage."The pair of you came within the thickness of a pane of glass of irreparably damaging or even destroying this priceless treasure, and that must be reflected in the sentences I pass," Hehir said during the hearing. Judge Hehir was not finished lambasting the unrepentant extremists. "You two simply had no right to do what you did to 'Sunflowers,'" he continued, "and your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation."After all was said and done, Holland, 22, received a sentence of 20 months behind bars while Plummer, 23, received 27 months, three of which were added for interfering with national infrastructure for her role in a march through western London in November, the Guardian reported.When her turn to address the court came, Plummer — who prefers "they/he/she" pronouns, according to her X account, ziggystardyke — expressed no remorse and instead likened herself to other famous protest leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. She also apparently considers physically attacking a priceless cultural artifact simply another form of "non-violent" protest."On 14 October 2022 and in November 2023 I made the choices to take actions that I knew would likely lead to my arrest and prosecution," she said, painting herself as a victim of unjust prosecution. "I made those choices because I believe that non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency and the political decisions being made that pour fuel on the flames and which sentence us all to a catastrophic future."According to the Guardian, both Plummer and Holland "blew kisses to the public gallery" in the courtroom before they were led away "to their cells."In a show of solidarity to their imprisoned comrades, two other members of Just Stop Oil apparently copied Plummer and Holland's crime just an hour or so after the women were sentenced and threw more soup at the "Sunflowers" painting."Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history," Phil Green, one of the alleged participants, said following the latest soup incident. Just Stop Oil posted a video of it to social media.Meanwhile, more than 100 artists likewise stand with Plummer and Holland, who, they claimed, ran almost no risk of damaging van Gogh's artwork with their act of vandalism. The group also views the defendants as artists, boldly tossing about "splatter" and "blooms" of color à la Jackson Pollock to make political statements."As artists, art workers and art historians, we are concerned by the courts’ defence of a false notion of artistic purity in their judgement and sentencing. Art can be and frequently is, iconoclasm. These activists should not receive custodial sentences for an act that connects entirely to the artistic canon," they said in the letter.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Two members of the environmental extremist group Just Stop Oil will spend a considerable time behind bars after they threw soup at a priceless painting from legendary artist Vincent van Gogh.
In October 2022, Anna Holland and Phoebe Plummer marched into the National Gallery in London and threw tomato soup at "Sunflowers," a work of art van Gogh painted in 1888. They subsequently glued their hands to the wall underneath it as well.
'Non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency.'
The soup caused roughly £10,000 — or about $13,400 — worth of damage to the frame surrounding the painting but, thankfully, did not damage the painting itself.
But it could have, Judge Christopher Hehir of the Southwark Crown Court argued during their sentencing hearing on Friday. For that reason, Hehir sentenced both defendants to prison after a jury back in July found them guilty of criminal damage.
"The pair of you came within the thickness of a pane of glass of irreparably damaging or even destroying this priceless treasure, and that must be reflected in the sentences I pass," Hehir said during the hearing.
Judge Hehir was not finished lambasting the unrepentant extremists. "You two simply had no right to do what you did to 'Sunflowers,'" he continued, "and your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation."
After all was said and done, Holland, 22, received a sentence of 20 months behind bars while Plummer, 23, received 27 months, three of which were added for interfering with national infrastructure for her role in a march through western London in November, the Guardian reported.
When her turn to address the court came, Plummer — who prefers "they/he/she" pronouns, according to her X account, ziggystardyke — expressed no remorse and instead likened herself to other famous protest leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. She also apparently considers physically attacking a priceless cultural artifact simply another form of "non-violent" protest.
"On 14 October 2022 and in November 2023 I made the choices to take actions that I knew would likely lead to my arrest and prosecution," she said, painting herself as a victim of unjust prosecution. "I made those choices because I believe that non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency and the political decisions being made that pour fuel on the flames and which sentence us all to a catastrophic future."
According to the Guardian, both Plummer and Holland "blew kisses to the public gallery" in the courtroom before they were led away "to their cells."
In a show of solidarity to their imprisoned comrades, two other members of Just Stop Oil apparently copied Plummer and Holland's crime just an hour or so after the women were sentenced and threw more soup at the "Sunflowers" painting.
"Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history," Phil Green, one of the alleged participants, said following the latest soup incident. Just Stop Oil posted a video of it to social media.
Meanwhile, more than 100 artists likewise stand with Plummer and Holland, who, they claimed, ran almost no risk of damaging van Gogh's artwork with their act of vandalism. The group also views the defendants as artists, boldly tossing about "splatter" and "blooms" of color à la Jackson Pollock to make political statements.
"As artists, art workers and art historians, we are concerned by the courts’ defence of a false notion of artistic purity in their judgement and sentencing. Art can be and frequently is, iconoclasm. These activists should not receive custodial sentences for an act that connects entirely to the artistic canon," they said in the letter.
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Originally Published at Daily Wire, World Net Daily, or The Blaze
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