Climate Change Cultists Facing Federal Charges for Vandalizing Case Containing Famous Edgar Degas Sculpture
Meanwhile, an Extinction Rebellion protest in the Netherlands ends with 1,500 arrested.
Last week, I noted that Italian police were quick to haul in climate change cultists who defaced Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain.
A little closer to home, two American cultists now face federal charges after vandalizing a display case containing a famous sculpture by Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., last month.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a release that 53-year-olds Timothy Martin of North Carolina and Joanna Smith of New York were charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit. Both turned themselves in to authorities.
The release states that a group called Declare Emergency, which conducts protests to oppose the continued use of fossil fuels, claimed credit for the incident.
Two protesters were seen smearing red and black paint on the case and pedestal of “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” by Degas, a prominent 19th and 20th century French artist.
“We need our leaders to take serious action, to tell us the truth about what is happening with the climate,” one protester was heard saying on a video recording of the incident.
After their antics, the two cultists sat in front of the defaced exhibit with the paint still on their hands and posed for photos. They apparently were featured on the website of one climate activist group, Declare Emergency, which has been organizing protests in the Washington, D.C. area.
Attorney information for the defendants wasn’t immediately available.
Other protesters who were involved in the museum defacing haven’t been named or charged.
If convicted, Martin and Smith face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
A few days before the museum incident, Declare Emergency shut down a section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, causing heavy traffic jams around Washington, D.C.
And while some eco-extremists have declared war on Western art and culture, more than 1,500 climate protesters have been arrested by police in the Netherlands after blocking a major motorway in The Hague as part of an Extinction Rebellion stunt.
During the protest, organised by Extinction Rebellion, activists walked onto the A12 highway demanding an end to fossil fuel subsidies.
Police fired water cannon to try to disperse the crowds – but many came prepared in raincoats and swimsuits.
Most arrested protesters were released, but police said 40 would be prosecuted.
Among those at Saturday’s protest were several Dutch celebrities, including actress Carice van Houten, known for playing Melisandre in TV series Game of Thrones. She was arrested but later allowed to return home, Dutch news agency ANP said.
Extinction Rebellion accused police of using water cannon just 15 minutes after the start of the blockade – but police said they had asked the activists to leave and gave them a chance to do so before using the water cannon.
The 1,579 people who refused to leave were then arrested.
None of these protests are garnering sympathy or support for their cause. What these protests demonstrate is that there are no sound arguments for their views on the Earth climate based on science or reason…hence, the hysteria and toddler-like antics.
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Comments
And yet:
Apparently nobody thought to arrest them during their photo-op at the crime scene, or were ordered not to.
Prediction – they won’t spend a day in jail or pay a dime in fines (out of their own pockets).
Given the never ending stream of leftist propaganda coming from private and public sector sources, I have to wonder why the climate cult acolytes feel compelled to engage in these public tantrums?
Read that they let wapo (aka wapoop) know in advance so they could send a photographer. I think wapoop should also be charged as an accessory for not informing the police of a planned illegal activity.
Yeah, it’s not going to happen, but it should.
Gosport “Apparently nobody thought to arrest them during their photo-op at the crime scene, or were ordered not to.”
Obviously, best to go after Marxists quietly afterwards
90 days without ANY benefit derived from fossil fuel.
I would hope that would include any food that has been planted, fertilized, watered or transported by machinery that runs on hydrocarbon fuels.
Not to worry, john kerry is going to wipe out all the farms (except his tomato farms and a few cattle/diary farms for his personal use).
OK…lets see D.C. legal system in play. Witnessing the sentences handed out to J6 grandmothers just escorted by Capitol thugs… er… police into the Temple of Democracy…..what will be the Degas Two ™ fate? All signs point to 10 yours of community service at a Planned Parenthood center. Of course, if anyone had attempted to stop them….well…. that’s 15 years in prison… at the going rate.
These people’s lives are too comfortable. They want for nothing. These acts make them feel as if their lives have meaning.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/29/wash-post-complicit-in-climate-protests-staff-reporters-were-initially-subjected-to-a-potential-arrest-due-to-advance-alert-of-crime-at-fed-art-gallery-fmr-nyt-reporter-s/
some interesting info related to this
“The Washington Post reported that it’s staff reporters were initially subjected to a potential arrest but, after speaking with attorneys, they were not detained.”
What illiterate reporters. WHO spoke with WHOSE attorneys?
I wonder what would happen to them if that defaced a gay pride flag in the same way.
Heads would explode.
Since all the evidence is that the world is not warming, just becoming a bit more erratic, (which is actually more normal) I don’t think they really want the “truth”
“We need our leaders to take serious action” all right, to put the vandals behind bars for a long time as they deserve. But will Garland and his merry band of “wokesters” in DOJ do anything this time? Don’t hold your breath.
“…1,500 climate protesters have been arrested by police in the Netherlands after blocking a major motorway in The Hague…”
Now do “protesters” arrested blocking citizens’ airports, commute time trollys, or random roadways.
‘Police fired water cannon to try to disperse the crowds – but many came prepared in raincoats and swimsuits.” I thought water cannons were really powerful.
Didn’t Musk’s Boring Company make a really cheap flamethrower?
Yeah, that was my thought. I’m pretty sure that’s not the way water cannons “work.” It’s like writing, “Police shot into the crowd but many had come prepared wearing camouflage.”
You’ll be extra damp, with pressure bruising… as opposed to sodden, with pressure bruising.
And of course the deranged leftists sought to do harm to a statute of a child. I guess there were no images of an expectant mother to defile.
Let them rot in jail
Whatever happened to Milstein?
If these people go to jail, then so too should rioters who topple statues in public parks.
Those vandals who topple statues deserve to go to jail no matter what happens to the Degas vandals.