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Mona Lisa under attack in Louvre

By Linda Hall • Updated: 28 Jan 2024 • 14:42

PROTESTERS hurled thick yellow soup at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, January 28. Two women first threw the contents of two tins on the artwork, which is protected by bulletproof glass and then slid under the wooden barrier round the picture. One of them pulled off her jacket to reveal a Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) t-shirt, shouting, “What's more important, art or the right to healthy, sustainable food? Our agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.” Both women belonged to the French environmentalist organisation "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Response), which issued a statement explaining that the protest, the start of a “civil resistance campaign” highlighted the need to protect the environment and food sources. The group are demanding a system that gives people better access to healthy food while providing farmers with a decent living wage at the same time. The Mona Lisa stunt coincided as French farmers block roads with their tractors nationwide, calling for better pay, simplified bureaucracy and protection against cheap imports. Nor was this the first time that Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th-century portrait of Lisa del Giocondo has been under attack. It has been behind glass since a Bolivian man threw a rock at it in December 1956, damaging Mona Lisa’s left elbow. In 2009 a woman threw an empty cup at the portrait in May 2022, a man threw a custard pie at the picture, maintaining that artists did not focus sufficiently “on the planet.”

RIPOSTE ALIMENTAIRE: Two activists hurled soup at Mona Lisa Photo credit: Riposte Alimentaire - X

Protesters hurled thick yellow soup at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, January 28.

Two women first threw the contents of two tins on the artwork, which is protected by bulletproof glass, and then slid under the wooden barrier round the picture.

One of them pulled off her jacket to reveal a Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) t-shirt, shouting, “What’s more important, art or the right to healthy, sustainable food? Our agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.”

Both women belonged to the French environmentalist organisation “Riposte Alimentaire” (Food Response), which issued a statement explaining that the protest, the start of a “civil resistance campaign”, highlighted the need to protect the environment and food sources.

The group are demanding a system that gives people better access to healthy food while providing farmers with a decent living wage.

The Mona Lisa stunt came as French farmers block roads with their tractors nationwide, calling for better pay, simplified bureaucracy and protection against cheap imports.

Nor was this the first time that Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th-century portrait of Lisa del Giocondo was under attack.

It has been behind glass since a Bolivian man threw a rock at it in December 1956, damaging Mona Lisa’s left elbow.  In 2009 a woman threw an empty cup at the portrait while in May, 2022, a man threw a custard pie at the picture, maintaining that artists did not focus sufficiently “on the planet.”

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Written by

Linda Hall

Originally from the UK, Linda is based in Valenca and is a reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering local news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

Comments

    • CCW60

      28 January 2024 • 16:07

      While I totally understand and empathise on the issues for which they are fighting, this probably isn’t the best way to get public support. Farmers everywhere need to unite against globalist’s tyranny. All human beings on this planet need to unite beside them. Never allow governments control over food supply in your countries!

      • Derek

        29 January 2024 • 12:12

        Jail them instantly. If you or I did it, we would be sent to prison. The Mona Lisa is a treasure and anyone defacing it should be punished accordingly. The whole world has gone PC crazy. Time for it to stop. So many snowflakes these days. (Am I allowed to say snowflake or is it offensive?🤔) Don’t care if it is(hope so)

    • Al Rossi>

      29 January 2024 • 12:45

      Let them protest in North Korea? or Beijing? or Moscow? Are you also sick of these lunatics?

    • Dave

      29 January 2024 • 13:45

      Scum

    Comments are closed.

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