“Not even a can of soup”
Increasingly questioned for her political, economic and environmental decisions, the new British Conservative Prime Minister, Liz Truss, appointed on September 6 as successor to the controversial Boris Johnson, announced two days later the lifting of a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom.
In addition to allowing this controversial method of extracting fossil fuels, which was until now prohibited in the country, Truss also announced an increase in licenses for the extraction of oil and gas in the North Sea, among his measures to fight the energy crisis .
“Sunflowers” is the second most famous work of Go Gogh attacked by “Just Stop Oil”, two of whose activists attached themselves at the end of June to the painting “Peach Trees in Bloom”, from 1889, exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“What is worth more, art or life?”, “Do you care more about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”launched one of the protesters on Friday.
In video footage of he hears someone yell “oh my God” as soup drips down the frame onto the floor.
This latest action by the group takes place after two weeks of protests throughout the British capital.
“The cost of living crisis comes from fossil fuels, daily life has become unaffordable for millions of families who are cold and hungry, they cannot afford even a can of soup”said Phoebe Plummer, a 21-year-old activist quoted in a statement from the group.
“At the same time,” “people are dying” from “fires and droughts caused by climate change,” he argued, and “we can’t afford new oil and gas projects.”