204

Two activists arrested after Rokeby Venus artwork targeted, as dozens of others held after blocking Whitehall

Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested after smashing the glass covering a Diego Velázquez painting at the National Gallery in London, as police detained dozens of others who blocked Whitehall.

Two activists targeted the glass on the Rokeby Venus painting with safety hammers before they were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

The artwork, which was painted by Velázquez in the 1600s, was slashed by the suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914. One of those involved on Monday said: “Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words.”

The Metropolitan police said at least 40 activists who were “slow marching” in Whitehall were also detained and that the road was clear after traffic was stopped for a brief period

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] STRIKINGdebate2@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

Because art gets them more publicity. Also if they are going around smashing car windows then they are liable to thousands in fines due to criminal damage, turn the general public against them even more so than they already are and it will likely legitimise tough laws being created against this group.

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

... do you think they aren't going to be liable for damaging art that is worth as much as or more than most common cars?

[-] STRIKINGdebate2@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No. Because the paintings are protected by glass.

[-] smac@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

But they're smashing the glass . . .

[-] ChronosWing@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago

They smashed the glass... are you blind or just stupid?

[-] DavidOwie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

They literally escalated from just throwing food to trying to damage the actual artwork. Get real.

[-] topinambour_rex@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Because art gets them more publicity.

Out of curiosity, how many news articles about them throwing paints on oil company owned building or luxury cars dealership did you shared ?

this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
204 points (93.6% liked)

World News

38965 readers
2223 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS