Two environmental activists who glued themselves to a J.M.W. Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery in July 2022 were acquitted today in a Manchester court. The pair affixed themselves to the frame of Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) by Turner and sprayed “No New Oil” and the Just Stop Oil logo on the floor with chalk.
According to a Just Stop Oil statement, Paul Bell (24), who is studying for a Phd in Climate Impacts, and Edred Whittingham (27), an energy advisor, appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ court charged with criminal damage of less than £5,000 for the action taken.
“The district judge found that the action was proportionate in view of the climate crisis,” a Just Stop Oil statement says. "By contrast Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland received sentences of 24 months and 20 months respectively from Judge Hehir at Southwark Crown Court last week for throwing cans of soup on the glass cover of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022.”
Just Stop Oil is largely funded by small donations from the public, with further contributions from the Climate Emergency Fund, a Los Angeles-based organisation established in 2019.
