Woman who threw soup over Van Gogh’s painting says she would never try to cause damage

A woman who threw soup over a Van Gogh painting as part of a Just Stop Oil protest has said she'd never try to cause damage to it.

Fortunately, the painting was protected by a pane of glass that stopped any of the soup seeping through to the precious canvas, and the protestors have explained they never intended to damage the priceless Van Gogh.

Now, one of the protestors has explained why they chose to target the Van Gogh and made it clear they only threw soup at it because they knew it was protected and wouldn't get damaged.

She said: "Absolutely no damage done to the painting, it was behind glass and we never, ever would have considered doing it if we didn't know it was behind glass so that we wouldn't do any damage.

"I mean literally we were sat up there still glued to the wall, they wiped it off with a bit of kitchen roll.

"I recognise that it looks like a slightly ridiculous action, I agree it is ridiculous, but we're not asking the question 'should everybody be throwing soup on paintings', what we're doing is getting the conversation going so we can ask the questions that matter.

"Questions like 'is it ok that Liz Truss is licensing over 100 new fossil fuel licences?' and 'is it ok that fossil fuels are subsidised 30 times more than renewables when offshore wind is currently nine times cheaper?'"

Two women have been charged in relation to the soup-throwing protest, with 20-year-old Anna Holland from Newcastle and 21-year-old Phoebe Plummer of Lambeth pleading not guilty to damages of the painting's frame.

Prosecutor Ola Oyedepo said the pair threw an 'orange substance' at the painting knowing there was a 'protective case' over the priceless masterpiece.

She said some damage was caused to the frame, the cost of which is not yet known but 'significantly below the £5,000 cost threshold'.

Speaking for the defence, Katie McFadden, said the prosecution 'needs to prove that damage has been caused'.

A trial date for the pair has been set for 13 December at the City of London Magistrate's Court.