Mona Lisa: Protesters throw soup at Da Vinci’s painting

Protesters threw soup at a glass-protected Mona Lisa painting in France, calling for the right to “healthy and sustainable food.”

The 16th-century painting by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous works of art in the world and is on display at the Louvre in central Paris.

It is behind bulletproof glass, so it is unlikely to have been damaged.

The video shows two protesters wearing T-shirts that say “food counterattack” throwing the liquid.

Then they stand in front of the painting and say: “What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food?”

“Their agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying on the job,” they add.

Museum security is then seen placing black screens in front of them before evacuating the room.

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

In a statement sent to the AFP news agency, they said the soup launch marked the “beginning of a campaign of civil resistance with the clear demand… for the social security of sustainable food.”

Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, said “no cause” can justify the Mona Lisa being attacked.

“As if our heritage (painting) belonged to future generations,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

The French capital has seen protests by farmers in recent days, calling for an end to rising fuel costs and for regulations to be simplified; On Friday they blocked key roads in and out of Paris.

The Mona Lisa has been behind safety glass since the early 1950s, when it was damaged by a visitor who poured acid on it.

In 2019, the museum said it had installed a more transparent form of bulletproof glass to protect it.

The painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, causing an international sensation. Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee of the most visited museum in the world, hid overnight in a closet to take the painting.

It was recovered two years later, when he tried to sell it to an antique dealer in Florence, Italy.