Two people have been arrested after protesters hurled soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' in Paris, demanding the right to "healthy and sustainable food".
In a video shared by French news agency CL Press, a woman can be seen throwing liquid from a tin on to the artwork.
She then crosses a boundary between the painting and public alongside another woman, with both of them wearing a T-shirt that says Riposte Alimentaire, which translates as food response, written on the front.
"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."
After the soup was thrown staff rushed to hide the disruption by propping up black protective panels.
A statement from the Louvre Museum said that the Salle des Etats, where the Mona Lisa is displayed, was evacuated after the demonstration.
It added that the room was suspended for an hour while cleaning was carried out before it was reopened to visitors around midday.
The statement added: "The museum will lodge a complaint."
The action comes as French farmers have been protesting for days to demand better pay, taxes and regulations.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Friday announced several measures, but road blockages have continued in different parts of the country.
Today's action follows a series of such stunts by climate activists against world-famous paintings to demand more action to phase out fossil fuels and protect the planet.
It was not the first attack on the "Mona Lisa".
A 36-year-old man threw a custard pie at her in May 2022, because artists were not focusing enough on "the planet", but the thick glass casing ensured she came to no harm.
The Mona Lisa was left shaken but unharmed yesterday when a visitor to the Louvre tried to smash the glass protecting the world's most famous painting before smearing cream across its surface in an apparent climate-related publicity stunt | https://t.co/jOHm3sOh76 pic.twitter.com/iN0nEUC9VB
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 30, 2022
Other incidents where art was targeted have included soup been thrown at Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' at London's National Gallery in October 2022, and in the following month campaigners glued themselves to Goya paintings in Madrid's Prado museum.
Additional reporting PA
