Just Stop Oil protestors sentenced for throwing soup on painting

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed at Southwark court after they threw tinned soup over Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' painting in 2022.

Phoebe Plummer, 23, from Clapham, and Anna Holland, 22, were sentenced to two years and 20 months respectively, on Friday.

The protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the 1888 work in October 2022, before kneeling down in front of the painting and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it.

The painting was not damaged due to being behind glass, however the frame suffered £10,000 worth of damage, the court heard.

The pair were found guilty of criminal damage in July 2024. Judge Christopher Hehir had warned the pair to be 'prepared in practical and emotional terms to go to prison.'

Sentencing the women on Friday, Judge Christopher Hehir said the "cultural treasure" could have been "seriously damaged or even destroyed"."Soup might have seeped through the glass," he continued."You couldn't have cared less if the painting was damaged or not. You had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers."The judge told Plummer, who was also handed a criminal behaviour order: "You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. You do not."Raj Chada, defending Holland, said the women "did check" that the painting was protected by a glass cover before throwing the soup.

Plummer, representing herself, told the hearing: "My choice today is to accept whatever sentence I receive with a smile."It is not just myself being sentenced today, or my co-defendants, but the foundations of democracy itself."Plummer was also handed a three-month sentence for her part in a slow march which caused long tailbacks in west London in November 2023.

A number of Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism. One sign read, "Free Political Prisoners."

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