Commenting on the sentencing of Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland to a total of 44 months in jail for throwing tinned soup at the protective glass covering a Van Gogh painting in October 2022, Greenpeace UK’s Co-Executive Director Will McCallum said:
“This is a draconian and disproportionate punishment for a protest that caused minor damage to a picture frame and none to the actual canvas. It’s another grim milestone in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful protest waged by the last government.
“Peaceful protest is a sign of a healthy democracy. Without protest we would have no votes for women, whales would still be hunted to extinction and we would all work a seven-day week. Protest is by its nature inconvenient and occasionally messy. These defendants do not deserve to spend years behind bars for standing up for a livable planet.
“Today’s sentences are the result of the last government’s deliberate policy of stifling dissent and stigmatising protesters. The new Labour government does not have to follow in its misguided footsteps. It should stand up for democracy and civil rights, as well as for those who choose to defend them through peaceful protest. We look forward to hearing back from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in response to our request for a meeting about these issues as a matter of urgency.”
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Notes to editors
Defend Our Juries, Just Stop Oil, Greenpeace and other groups marked today’s sentencing with a ‘silent exhibition of political prisoners past and present’ outside Southwark Crown Court, to show support for the two activists and the right to peaceful protest. Photos and video are available here: https://media.greenpeace.org/Detail/27MZIFJB1EAKX
On Thursday, more than 125 artists, curators and art historians signed an open letter appealing to the judge not to impose a jail sentence on Plummer and Holland. They argued: “Art can be and frequently is, iconoclasm. These activists should not receive custodial sentences for an act that connects entirely to the artistic canon.” https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/over-100-artists-and-art-historians-call-on-judge-not-to-jail-van-gogh-activists/