Climate activists glue hands on Van Gogh painting in London museum | Abroad

In this stunt, the duo of the group “Just Stop Oil” stuck their fingers on the painting “Blooming peach trees” by the Dutch master. The work on canvas, painted in 1889, is part of a Van Gogh collection that hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in the British capital.

“We don’t want to do this,” activist Louis McKechnie told spectators at the London gallery. “We are glued to this painting here because we are terrified for our future,” added the 21-year-old, noting that he and his fellow activist expected to be arrested. “If there was another way to get the change we need, we would have done it. We have tried everything else.”

The Courtauld confirmed that the incident occurred in the mid-afternoon and prompted the gallery where the painting hangs to be closed for the rest of Thursday. “We expect The Courtauld Gallery to reopen to the public as normal tomorrow,” the statement added.

McKechnie, a former engineering student who has already been arrested 20 times and spent six weeks in prison, is fast becoming one of the most recognizable faces among Britain’s climate change activists. In March, he risked the wrath of football fans when he tied himself to a goalpost during a game between Newcastle and Everton.

He told AFP earlier this month that he was willing to become “public enemy number one” for his direct actions. “My generation has no choice but to take this kind of action,” he added.

On Wednesday, Britain’s independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) warned that the UK government is not making enough progress to meet its targets of being carbon neutral by 2050.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recently revised its energy strategy, including nuclear, wind and solar power. But the government is also investigating fossil fuel projects in the North Sea, as part of efforts to secure domestic supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.