The Mona Lisa has lentil soup thrown across it in a stunt by eco-protesters yesterday.
A video shows two women flinging the contents of their flasks over the glass protecting the painting as onlookers gasp and cry out: “No, no!”
The pair then cross a barrier keeping the public back from the 521-year-old Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Standing in front of it, they remove their coats to reveal T-shirts printed with the name of their protest group Riposte Alimentaire, which translates as “food response”.
As staff hurriedly block them off with black screens, the activists shout: “What’s more important – art, or the right to healthy and sustainable food?
“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.”
They then stand with their right hands raised as onlookers are ushered out of the gallery.
Glass was installed over the artwork in the 1950s after an acid attack. In 2022 a man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair threw cake at the painting in an eco-protest.
France has faced protests in the last few days by farmers who want less red tape, more money for their produce and protection against cheap imports.
