Climate extremists from the Just Stop Oil group have glued themselves to artworks by Vincent van Gogh and William Turner, to blackmail the government into halting fossil fuel projects.
“Sorry everybody, we don’t wanna be doing this, we’re here glued to this painting, this beautiful painting, because we’re terrified for our future,” explained one of the protesters, apparently male, in a video published on social media by TalkTV showing him and a comrade glued to van Gogh’s Peach Trees In Blossom in London’s Courtauld Gallery.
“We’re here for a group called Just Stop Oil, we expect to be arrested today,” he went on, not seemingly particularly perturbed by the prospect — perhaps justifiably, given the authorities’ habit of simply releasing climate extremist protesters disrupting national infrastructure much more critical to the country than a painting, without pursuing serious charges.
Indeed, the protestor — named as student Louis McKechnie by the Daily Mail — is a serial protester from the group, having previously halted play at a Premier League football match by attaching himself to a goalpost, and holding up traffic on one of Britain’s busiest roads by glueing himself to the M25 motorway.
BREAKING: Just Stop Oil protesters have glued themselves to a Vincent Van Gogh painting at London's Courtauld Gallery. More follows… pic.twitter.com/5a1ZblKgzu
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) June 30, 2022
“We’re here because the UK government is pushing through 40 new fossil fuel projects, and with every single project they sign it’s like signing our death warrant,” the activist went on, heedless of the fuel and energy independence crisis which has spurred the typically green-obsessed Prime Minister Johnson to action.
“For 30 years we’ve been outside Parliament with our banners and our flags, and for 30 years nothing has been done,” he added, perhaps somewhat dubiously considering his adolescent appearance.
Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to Thomson’s Aeolian Harp by William Turner in the Manchester Art Gallery, far from London — suggesting a level of national co-ordination by the climate extremist group.
The Manchester activists also vandalised the floor of the gallery near the painting with a crude spraypaint doodle and the slogan ‘NO NEW OIL’.
“Throw them in prison,” commented GB News pundit Sophie Corcoran, asking: “How many times are we going to keep arresting them, then letting them off?”
BREAKING: Just Stop Oil protesters have glued themselves to a Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery. pic.twitter.com/8Qj9UitCny
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) July 1, 2022
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