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Louis McKechnie (May 2022): Ready to become "Public Enemy Number One".
Photo:
DANIEL LEAL/AFP
Two climate activists have glued their hands to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at a London art gallery.
"We don't want to do this here," says one of the two, 21-year-old Louis McKechnie, in a video distributed by the activist group Just Stop Oil.
"We're stuck here on this painting - this beautiful painting - because we fear for our future."
Footage shared by the protest group on social media shows police officers apparently climbing the stairs of the art gallery, presumably to get to the protesters.
The Courtauld Gallery in London confirmed the incident.
The gallery was then closed for the rest of the day.
The Van Gogh work »Blossoming Peach Trees« was affected by the action.
It is unclear whether it was damaged.
In the video from the London gallery, McKechnie accuses the UK government of "pushing through more than 40 new fossil fuel projects," which amounts to a death sentence for his generation.
So he has no other choice.
McKechnie known as an activist
A statement from "Just Stop Oil" said the campaign was intended to draw attention to the French region of Provence.
That's where von Gogh painted the peach trees.
Provence could soon be hit by a drought.
After a dry winter and spring and an extreme heat wave in May and June, France is running out of water.
Activist McKechnie, a former engineering student, has been arrested 20 times for various protest actions and has spent a total of six weeks in prison.
In March, he tied himself to a goal post in the middle of a football match between Newcastle United and Everton.
Earlier this month, he told AFP news agency he was ready to become "public enemy number one" for his actions.
ptz/AFP
