The Just Stop Oil activists pleaded not guilty at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, the court said on application. They are charged with property damage. The trial is scheduled for mid-July 2024 due to a huge backlog in the UK judiciary.
The activists, aged 20 and 21 at the time of the campaign, threw canned tomato soup at Van Gogh’s famous 1888 sunflower painting in October. They then knelt in front of the artwork and taped their hands to the wall. According to the National Gallery, the work itself was undamaged, only the frame was slightly damaged. The painting, with an estimated value of about CHF 83 million, was protected by a pane of glass.
For Just Stop Oil, the case is clear: “The judge must dismiss the case”, the organization said when asked. Her reasoning: The fact that the British government is licensing new oil and gas fields in violation of scientific knowledge and international agreements shows “that we do not have a functioning state and that the defendants are acting for the sake of society, the British state and the millions already affected by dangerous extreme weather events”.
Just Stop Oil is demanding that the government in London immediately end the granting of new licenses for the production of oil and gas. The current UK government is still committed to the 2050 target of climate neutrality and the internationally agreed target of 1.5 degrees. Yet London continues to promote fossil fuels, although scientists say that contradicts itself.
(SDA)