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A pair of British climate activists glued their hands to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at a London gallery Thursday to protest the government’s climate policies.
The duo – Louis McKechnie and Emily Brocklebank – are supporters of the activist group, “Just Stop Oil,” which engages in publicity stunts to bring the public’s attention to climate change.
McKechnie, 21, and Brocklebank, 24, glued themselves to Van Gogh’s 1889 painting, “Peach Trees in Blossom, which hangs at the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House in London.
In a statement released on Just Stop Oil’s website, McKechnie called on the art world to be more proactive about fighting climate change.
“Directors of art institutions should be calling on the government to stop all new oil and gas projects immediately,” he said. “We are either in resistance or we are complicit.”
The Courtauld Gallery said it would remain closed through the end of Thursday and was expected to reopen to the public “as normal” on Friday. Fox News has reached out to the gallery for further comment.
Footage posted online by Just Stop Oil shows police responding to the climate activists.
“A piece of art receives this protection and state concern. Whilst people’s in Ethiopia, Somalia, India, Pakistan, the USA, Australia (to name a few) who are suffering from climate change NOW get ignored and left,” the group wrote. “What’s more important? This painting? Or a future”?!
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The stunt came after another climate activist threw a piece of cake at Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa at the Paris’ Louvre Museum in late May.