Activists splash soup on glass-protected Mona Lisa

PARIS: Two protesters on Sunday hurled soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci´s “Mona Lisa” in Paris, demanding the right to “healthy and sustainable food”, an AFP journalist saw.

The action, which comes as French farmers protest across the country, is the latest in a string of similar attacks against artworks to demand more action to protect the planet.

Two women on Sunday morning flung streams of red and orange soup onto the glass protecting the smiling lady to gasps from the crowd in the French capital´s Louvre museum.

“What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food,” they asked, standing in front of the painting and speaking in turn.

“Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added, before security staff placed black screens in front of them and evacuated the room.

A group called Riposte Alimentaire (“Food counterattack”) claimed responsibility for the stunt.

In a statement sent to AFP, they said the soup throwing marked the “start of a campaign of civil resistance with the clear demand... of the social security of sustainable food”.

The action comes as French farmers have been protesting for days to demand better pay, taxes and regulations.

The government has been trying to keep discontent among the agricultural workers from spreading months ahead of European Parliament elections, which are seen as a key test for President Emmanuel Macron´s government.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Sunday scrambled to announce new measures as some farmers threatened to block roads into the capital on Monday.