London, September 30 (RHC)-- In Britain, climate activists from Just Stop Oil threw cans of tomato soup at two Vincent van Gogh paintings, including Sunflowers, at London’s National Gallery over the weekend.

The action came just hours after a London judge sentenced two other activists to prison for throwing soup at the same painting and gluing themselves to the walls of the National Gallery two years ago.  

The judge said his harsh sentences of up to two years in prison for Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, both in their early twenties, was meant to deter protesters from such acts of civil disobedience.

It’s the latest in a string of criminal prosecutions against activists in the UK.  Just ahead of the sentencing, over 100 artists and art workers signed an open letter asking for leniency for Plummer and Holland.  Protesters also rallied outside the London court to show support for the two activists, who have been described as political prisoners.

One protest organizer, Paddy Friend, told reporters: “Up until recently in this country, peaceful, nonviolent people who protested weren’t locked up.  That was really rare.  And in the last few years, and particularly in the last sort of two months, basically, almost 50 people have been locked up for daring to nonviolently, you know, resist the oil industry, resist the genocide in Gaza.  And that’s just not acceptable in a democracy.”

[ SOURCE:  DEMOCRACY NOW ]