By: Caroline Downey – nationalreview.com – November 6, 2023

Climate activists attacked a 400-year-old painting in a famous London art museum with hammers on Monday, breaking the glass barrier protecting the painting.

The vandals targeted the painting Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez, which hangs in the London National Gallery. Painted in 1651, the work depicts the love goddess Venus lounging and peering into a mirror held by her son Cupid, the god of desire.

“Women did not get the vote by voting,” a female protester can be heard shouting in a video of the incident posted to social media. “It is time for deeds and not words. It is time to just stop oil.”

“Politics is failing us,” a male protester adds. “Politics failed we in 1914. If millions will die due to new oil and gas licenses, BILLIONS! If we love history, if we love art, and if we love our families, we must just stop oil.”

Metropolitan Police intervened and arrested the activists, who were identified as Hanan Ameur, 22, and Harrison Donnelly, 20, in a statement released by Just Stop Oil, which describes itself as a “nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.”

‘The glass protecting a painting at the National Gallery has been vandalised,” police said in a statement. “The painting is now being removed from display so it can be examined by conservators.”

“At just before 11am this morning (6 November 2023) two people entered Room 30 of the National Gallery,” the museum confirmed in a statement. “The pair appeared to strike The Toilet of Venus (‘The Rokeby Venus’) by Velázquez with what appeared to be emergency rescue hammers. The room was cleared of visitors and police were called. Officers are now on the scene. Two people have been arrested.”

Just Stop Oil gained international infamy last year after it defaced several prominent artworks, including splashing Vincent van Gogh’s famous “Sunflowers” painting at the National Gallery in London with tomato soup.

Monday’s incident was inspired by a similar slashing in March 1914 by suffragette Mary Richardson. Just Stop Oil spokesperson Alex De Koning told Sky News that the group would follow the model of early women’s rights activists who “violently slashed paintings in order to get their messages across.”

“Our government have revealed plans for MORE oil licences, knowing it will kill millions,” the organization said in a statement Monday. “In response, two supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed the Rokeby Venus — slashed by Mary Richardson in 1914.”

In November of last year, it was revealed that Just Stop Oil was considering a new shock-and-awe strategy to ruin timeless works of art by slashing them. This pivot came about after their method of defacing paintings with food failed to achieve the desired result. De Koning told Sky News at the time that it was “insane” that “more people are outraged” at their tactics than natural disasters that ravaged many areas of Pakistan in 2022.

And at Oxford University last month, activists sprayed orange paint on the campus’s Radcliffe Camera, an iconic 140-foot-tall library built between 1737 and 1749, National Review reported. The fanatics also threw orange paint on buildings at Birmingham University, the University College London, Exeter University, and other schools.

Ameur and Donnelly have gotten intro trouble with authorities for past political disturbances. On October 5, Ameur was charged after she and cronies interrupted a performance of Les Miserables in London’s West End by walking on stage with the “Just Stop Oil” banner, the Daily Mail reported. Met Police arrested the activists after the show was abruptly stopped. The activists then locked themselves to the stage using bicycle locks.

“This summer has shown us the sheer power of a supercharged climate,” the organization told MailOnline at the time. “Scientists are freaking out and even the Pope is sounding the alarm. But, like the citizens of Paris in 1832, we have locked our doors, while our young face slaughter on the streets. They will inherit a scorched earth, unfit to live in and we will be long gone. We cannot let this stand. The show cannot go on.”

Donnelly, 20, was also allegedly involved in the heist at Birmingham University and was charged with criminal damage of a building after he sprayed paint and left orange hand prints.

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Source: Just Stop Oil & Painting: Climate Activists Attack 400-Year-Old Painting with Hammers | National Review