Just Stop Oil protesters smash 400-year-old painting and arrested at Cenotaph

Two Just Stop Oil protesters have smashed the glass covering a painting on display at the National Gallery - while dozens of others have been arrested in Whitehall and placed around the Cenotaph.

The protesters used safety hammers to break the glass protecting the Rokeby Venus painting at the museum on Monday. The Metropolitan Police said activists had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. The artwork, which was painted by Diego Velazquez in the 1600s, was previously slashed by suffragette Mary Richardson in March 1914.

Protesters obstructing traffic near Downing Street were arrested and placed on and around the Cenotaph by police, according to protesters and an officer. A mother-of-one lying cuffed on the base of the war memorial said: “They arrested us in the road and we were dragged to the pavement and then back over here.” One officer said the protesters had been moved to the site “to get them off the road”, adding: “It was for their own safety, obviously it’s quite a busy road.”

Two Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested after a demonstration at the National Gallery

Meanwhile, Just Stop Oil named the National Gallery pair as Hanan, 22, and Harrison, 20, and said their actions were to demand the Government immediately halt all new oil and gas projects in the UK. Following the incident, they said: "Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words. It is time to Just Stop Oil. Politics is failing us. It failed women in 1914 and it is failing us now. New oil and gas will kill millions. If we love art, if we love life, if we love our families, we must Just Stop Oil."

The Met said: "Two Just Stop Oil activists have been arrested for criminal damage. The glass protecting a painting at the National Gallery has been vandalised. We will provide updates of JSO activity for today on this thread." A series of Just Stop Oil protests have taken place in recent days, including last Wednesday when more than 20 people were charged after blocking Earl's Court Road.

Just Stop Oil activists who were glued to Da Vinci painting fined just £175 each

The protesters smashed the protective glass of the painting (PA)

The climate change activists say the demonstrations come in response to the Government having revealed plans for more oil licenses. Campaigners also led a slow march through Whitehall today that appeared to see demonstrators sitting in the road before targeting the Cenotaph. Officers have made arrests under Section Seven of the Public Order Act.

The Met tweeted: "Officers are following guidance and asking the activists to move off the road. If they fail to engage with us or move from the road we will make arrests under Section Seven of the Public Order Act. Within 15 minutes we have arrested at least 40 activists who were slow marching. Whitehall is now clear. We will provide updates on arrest figures in due course."

Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested and placed around the Cenotaph

Police said the demonstrators were placed around the memorial for their own safety

On Friday, five JSO protesters appeared in court charged with storming a performance of Les Miserables in London's West End. The performance at the Sondheim Theatre was brought to a halt at about 9pm on October 5, Westminster Magistrate's Court heard. Hannah Taylor, 23; Lydia Gribbin, 28; Hanan Ameur, 22; Noah Crane, 18; and Poppy Bliss, 19, pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated trespass.

District Judge Michael Snow told the protesters that the estimated cost to the theatre of cancelling the performance was £80,000.
He said that they could be liable to pay the full amount if they are found guilty. The judge set a trial date of February 5 2024. Ms Gribbin requested that the trial take place at the end of February as she will be away.

Judge Snow said: "I am afraid I am not going to wait for you to get back from India." He added: "If you have to miss out things, you have to miss out on things." The five protesters will next appear for trial at City of London Magistrate's Court on February 5 of next year.

The Cenotaph – or 'empty tomb' in Greek – has been the focus of the UK's Remembrance for a century. Initially a temporary monument designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1919, the Cenotaph in Whitehall was replaced with the permanent Portland stone memorial and unveiled on Armistice Day, 11 November 1920.