Eco-protestors have thrown soup at the Mona Lisa painting in the latest climate stunt.
The iconic painting by Leonardo da Vinci is on display at the Louvre in Paris.
It sits behind bulletproof glass so it is not believed to have been damaged.
Two protestors were filmed throwing cans of what appeared to be tomato soup towards the glass protecting the painting.
The duo then climbed under the barrier and stood in front of the defaced artwork, revealing a T-shirt with eco-group “Riposte Alimentaire” written in black letters.
The two protesters, identified as Sasha, 24, and Marie-Juliette, 63, are demanding the right to “healthy and sustainable food”, saying “our agricultural system is sick”.
They said: “What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food.”
“Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.”
In a statement, the Riposte Alimentaire group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said people’s access to food “was under attack” and social security food collective would mean each resident would benefit from a food card worth €150.
They also said that the soup throwing marked the “start of a campaign of civil resistance with the clear demand… of the social security of sustainable food”.
The Mona Lisa, painted in the 16th century by the legendary Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most valuable paintings in the world.
It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest insurance valuation of $100million in 1962, which would be around $1billion nowadays.
This isn’t the first time the Mona Lisa has been targeted by vandalism.
It was first put behind safety glass in the early 1950s when it was damaged by a visitor who poured acid on it.
In 2019, the Louvre said it had installed a more transparent form of bulletproof glass to protect it.
In 2022, another climate activist attacked the painting, throwing a cake at it and urging people to “think of the Earth”.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/world/mona-lisa-painting-soup-attack-eco-protestors-climate-stunt