Two climate activists from the group Just Stop Oil have been arrested after smashing the glass protecting a famous painting in London’s National Gallery.
A video posted to Just Stop Oil’s account on X shows the activists wearing white Just Stop Oil t-shirts and breaking the glass protecting Diego Velázquez’s 17th-century “Rokeby Venus” with orange safety hammers.
The painting is known for having been previously damaged in an act of protest by suffragette Mary Raleigh Richardson in 1914.
The National Gallery said on X that the room was cleared of visitors and police were called after the demonstration took place just before 11 a.m. local time on Monday.
“The painting is now being removed from display so it can be examined by conservators,” the post added.
The Metropolitan Police tweeted: “Two Just Stop Oil activists have been arrested for criminal damage. The glass protecting a painting at the National Gallery has been vandalized.”
