The eco-extremists are back again, and this time they targeted an iconic work of Western Art — Leonardo Da Vinci’s portrait of Mona Lisa.
Two protesters have hurled soup at the bulletproof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting, the Mona Lisa, in Paris’s Louvre museum.The act of vandalism on Sunday, which came as French farmers protested across the country, was the latest in a string of similar attacks against artworks to demand more action to protect the planet.On Sunday morning, local time, two women flung streams of red and orange soup onto the glass protecting the painting, sparking gasps from bystanders.“What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food?” they asked, standing in front of the painting and speaking in turn.
One of the women wore a t-shirt that is French for “Food Response.” They apparently belong to an organization that includes many climate cultist groups (including Just Stop Oil, which has previously targeted famous paintings).
One of the activists then takes off her jacket to reveal a white T-shirt with eco-group ‘Riposte Alimentaire’ written in black capital letters.The Salle de Etats – the largest room in the museum where the masterpiece is displayed – was evacuated and closed for an hour while the area was cleaned.The eco mob are part of the so-called A22 network movement – a collection of protest groups in 12 countries across the world, which includes Just Stop Oil in the UK.The two protesters were demanding the right to ‘healthy and sustainable food’, an AFP journalist said.
The messaging seems to be transitioning…replacing the focus on fossil fuels with food and farming.
“What’s the most important thing?” they shouted. “Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?”“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added.The Louvre employees could then be seen putting black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and asking visitors to evacuate the room.Paris police said two people were arrested following the incident.On its website, the “Food Riposte” group said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of the country’s state-sponsored health care system to be put in place to give people better access to healthy food while providing farmers a decent income.
The climate cultists may be switching up their message in the wake of Europe’s continuing farmers’ protests.
I have been covering the demonstrations in Germany, which are partly the result of unhappiness with the green restrictions on farmers. Farmers are now protesting throughout France:
Angry French farmers Saturday threatened to converge on Paris in the coming days as traffic barricades were only partially lifted on the country’s major roads. The developments came a day after the government announced a series of measures the farmers said do not fully address their demands.The farmers’ movement, seeking better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports has spread in recent days across the country, with protesters using their tractors to shut down long stretches of road and slow traffic. They’ve also dumped stinky agricultural waste at the gates of government offices.While some of the barricades were gradually being lifted on Saturday, highway operator Vinci Autoroutes said the A7, a major highway heading through southern France, was still closed. Some other roads were also partially closed, mostly in southern France….Near southwestern Agen, where the protests originated, the A62 highway was closed Saturday, with farmers gathering around fires fed by wooden pallets. One of the parked tractors was carrying a poster reading “We won’t die without saying a word.”In Agen’s city center, a plaza close to the prefecture building still looked like an open-air dump, after protesters on Friday heaped tires, hay, manure and pieces of wood.
I have to hand it to the French farmers. They are far more creative than the drama queens of ‘Riposte Alimentaire.’
If the climate cultists are truly worried about “sustainable food”, they would allow the farmers to farm and unburden them from rules and regulations that are based on pseudoscience and climate hysteria.
I suspect attempting to vandalize a French national treasure will bring this group no supporters…and increase the efforts of normal French citizens to unchain their government from eco-bureaucrats.
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