LONDON, Sept 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Climate campaigners on Friday hit out at 
stiff jail sentences given to two activists who threw soup at Vincent van 
Gogh's "Sunflowers" at a London gallery, voicing fears about the right to 
peaceful protest.

Just Stop Oil protesters Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were 
convicted in July of criminal damage after pouring tomato soup over the 
screen protecting the still life masterpiece at the National Gallery in 
October 2022.

Plummer was jailed for two years and Holland for 20 months. Both had pleaded 
not guilty.

Greenpeace UK's co-executive director, Will McCallum, called the sentence "a 
draconian and disproportionate punishment for a protest that caused minor 
damage to a picture frame".

Sentencing the pair, Judge Christopher Hehir said the painting could have 
been "seriously damaged or even destroyed".

"Soup might have seeped through the glass. You couldn't have cared less if 
the painting was damaged or not," he added.

"You had no right to do what you did to 'Sunflowers'."

Addressing Plummer, he said "you think your beliefs entitle you to do 
anything.

"The suggestion that you and others like you in a democracy are political 
prisoners is ludicrous, offensive and idiotic. You have no remorse and you 
are proud."

The gallery, located in Trafalgar Square, said the protesters caused around 
œ10,000 ($13,420) in damage to the frame but the painting itself was 
protected by a screen and was unharmed.

Holland and Plummer also glued themselves to the gallery wall during their 
protest.

"What is worth more -- art or life?" Plummer had shouted.

Both are expected to serve around half of their sentences in custody.

- 'What matters most?' -

"It's another grim milestone in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful protest 
waged by the last government," Greenpeace UK's McCallum said.

"Protest is by its nature inconvenient and occasionally messy. These 
defendants do not deserve to spend years behind bars for standing up for a 
liveable planet."

Speaking before the sentencing, Holland said: "We do not expect justice from 
a broken system that has been corrupted by its dependence on fossil fuels. 
Prison sentences, no matter how long, will not deter us."

Just Stop Oil wants an end to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels such 
as oil, coal and gas and say the greenhouse gas emissions they create are 
"driving us towards climate collapse... (that) spells disaster for human 
societies globally".

It has staged a number of high-profile stunts in recent years to draw 
attention to their plea to "end fossil fuels before they end us".

The group has targeted the Wimbledon tennis tournament and British Open golf 
tournament, as well as art galleries and museums and a performance of "Les 
Miserables".

Five activists, including the climate group's founder, were given between 
four and five years in jail in June for conspiring to plan protests that 
blocked the M25 orbital motorway around London.

At the time of sentencing, Plummer has already spent 58 days on remand in 
prison for another protest at London's Heathrow Airport in July.

Just Stop Oil says climate change poses an existential crisis for humanity 
and that its direct tactics are justified.

In July 2022, Just Stop Oil protesters glued themselves to the frame of John 
Constable's pastoral masterpiece "The Hay Wain", also in the National 
Gallery.