Environmental activists who protested at the Hague museum will be jailed
Last week, the Greens staged a tomato soup action outside a 17th century masterpiece by Jan Vermeer.
A court arrested two Belgian activists protesting next to Jan Vermeer's famous painting The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Prosecutors asked for two months of imprisonment for the Greens because they had crossed the line. But the presiding judge of The Hague Court reduced the sentence to one month. A third suspect is due in court on Friday. The identities of the detainees are not disclosed due to confidentiality rules in the Netherlands.
To recap, last week one of the men glued his head to the glass protecting a Vermeer painting at the Mauritshuis Museum. At the same time, a second eco-activist in a T-shirt with the slogan "Just Stop Oil" poured a can of tomato soup over the head of the first, and then glued his hand to the wall next to the painting. A third participant filmed what was happening on camera.
The painting itself, fortunately, was not damaged, but the protective glass required replacement, the prosecution said. The Girl with the Pearl Earring was returned to its place in the museum a day after the incident.