ATLANTA, USA (CNN) — Two fossil fuel protesters, who were photographed throwing tomato soup at Van Gogh’s famous “Sunflower” painting at a London gallery Friday, have been charged with two charges against them, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Saturday. Criminal charges of vandalism.
A police statement said two people had been convicted over the London National Gallery incident, while a third person had been convicted of a separate attack on the iconic New Scotland Yard in front of London Police Headquarters.
“Three people will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday 15 October, having been convicted of criminal offenses relating to tort in central London the previous day,” the police said in a statement.
Police indicated that the three convicts were part of the “Stop the Oil” campaign, which expresses an alliance of groups calling to prevent the British government from granting new licenses to extract, develop and produce shale oil.
Friday’s incident, which targeted a Van Gogh painting, comes as the latest in a series of protests targeting famous artworks to draw attention to the role of fossil fuels in climate change.