"At around 10am on Sunday 28 January 2024, two activists from the environmental movement 'Riposte Alimentaire' (food reaction) threw pumpkin soup onto the armoured glass protecting the Mona Lisa painting," the Louvre museum in Paris (France) said in a statement.
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After throwing pumpkin soup at the painting, two protesters broke through the barricades, chanting for the right to "healthy and sustainable food." They also declared that "our agricultural system is broken," before removing their jackets to reveal white T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan of the group Riposte Alimentaire.
Security staff at the museum immediately intervened, placing black cloth curtains around the painting and the two protesters. The museum said it was filing a complaint.
Environmental group Riposte Alimentaire also confirmed that two protesters linked to its campaign were responsible for the vandalism. The painting was placed behind bulletproof glass and was not damaged in the incident.
The incident comes as French farmers continued nationwide protests on Saturday (January 27) and continued to threaten barricades around Paris, saying government measures were not enough to meet their demands for better living conditions and wages.
Arguably the world's most famous painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre each year, who line up to pose for a photo next to the work.
The Renaissance work has long faced vandalism and theft. In 1911, an employee of the Louvre itself attempted to steal it. The lower part of the painting was also doused with acid in the 1950s, prompting the museum to increase security around the work, including installing bulletproof glass.
In 2009, an angry woman threw a ceramic cup at the painting, breaking it but leaving the painting unharmed. Then in 2022, a tourist threw a cake all over the protective glass of the Mona Lisa portrait.
Hoai Phuong (according to CNN, AP)
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