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ENVIRONMENT

Activists throw soup at Monet painting in Lyon museum

Protesters hurled soup at a Monet painting on Saturday in a museum in southeast France, the latest action by a campaign group that pulled a similar stunt on the Mona Lisa last month.

Published: 11 February 2024 09:23 CET
This image grab from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists from the
This image grab from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists from the "Riposte Alimentaire" collective after hurling soup at Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting at Paris' Louvre museum, on January 28, 2024. On Saturday, activists threw soup at a Monet painting at a museum in Lyon. (Photo by David CANTINIAUX / AFPTV / AFP)

The Musee des Beaux-Arts in France’s third largest city said in a communique that the attack on Claude Monet’s “Le Printemps” (Spring) took place at 3:30 pm local time Saturday.

The 1872 painting was protected by glass, but will still undergo a close inspection and restoration, the museum said.

The museum said it would file a complaint for vandalism, adding that two activists were arrested.

Riposte Alimentaire (“Food counterattack”) claimed the attack in a posting on X, with a woman identifying herself as 20-year-old Ilona saying “we have to act now before it is too late.” 

The same group, which calls for a sustainable supply of healthy food for all, also claimed January’s soup attack on the Louvre museum’s Mona Lisa painting, which was also behind glass. 

The two militants who carried out the attack on Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic work were condemned by a Paris court to carry out volunteer work for a charity association.

Riposte Alimentaire calls itself a “French civil resistance movement which aims to spur a radical societal change for the environment and society”.

“We love art,” the movement says, “but future artists will have nothing to paint on a burning planet.”

In a posting on X, Lyon’s mayor, who is from an ecological party, said he “regretted the action” but said that “in the face of climate emergencies, anguish is legitimate. We will respond with determined actions.”

It wasn’t the first time a Monet painting has been targeted by ecologist activists.

In October 2022, protesters from the German branch of Last Generation flung mash at “Les Meules” (The Haystacks) in a museum in Potsdam. It too was protected by glass.

In June 2023, activists in Stockholm smeared red paint and glued their hands to the glass covering of another of the French impressionist’s works, “The Artist’s Garden at Giverny”.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Published: 22 June 2024 12:47 CEST
Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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