France declares war on “ecoterrorism” in museums after latest attacks

The security services of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the third national museum, arrested a young radical environmental activist over the weekend when she was about to throw a canteen of soup at the famous work of Vincent van Gogh, the ‘Self-portrait of Saint- Remy’ (1889). The Minister of the Interior fears the appearance in France of “ecoterrorism”. The Minister of Culture announces a “reflection” on security systems in museums. The attacker is a young militant of Just Stop Oil (JSO), a movement born in the United Kingdom on February 14 with the aim of “stopping the production of fuel licenses by all means, using civil resistance”. The most radical faction of EELV (Europe Ecology The Greens), the French environmentalist party, has justified, defended and supported JSO’s actions. Related News standard No Who is Just stop Oil, the environmental group that has thrown tomato soup at Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, and what does it want? LG The environmental group was born in February 2022 and demands that the UK government put an end to the production of fossil fuels Sandrine Rousseau, leading environmentalist deputy of EELV, justified days ago the attempted attack against ‘The Sunflowers’, by Van Gogh, at the National Gallery in London, in these terms: «The action of these young ecologists is extremely interesting, because it bothers a lot. Anger grows among young people against climate action. They are right to be angry. Truly”. Released Orsay’s foiled attack comes just two weeks after the National Gallery attack. On this occasion, the security services of the Musée d’Orsay quickly detected the young environmentalist, who was wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt, and were able to prevent the attack. The young woman was arrested, interrogated and then released on bail, judicially charged with the crime of “attempted voluntary degradation”. The first attempted attack by the JSO movement in Paris coincides with the emergence, perhaps significant, of a relatively violent environmental movement, with spectacular clashes that claimed a hundred wounded, on Saturday afternoon, in Sainte-Soline (Deux Sèvres), and that Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, commented in this way: «a form of eco-terrorism is being born in France, which we will fight very energetically». The clashes in Sainte-Soline, motivated by the protest against the construction of sixteen dams, have nothing to do with the attempted attack on the Van Gogh at the Musée d’Orsay, but it is a significant temporal coincidence. The environmentalist leader Sandrine Rousseau, who justified and defended the attempted attacks against another Van Gogh in London, was also present at the large demonstrations last Saturday in Sainte-Soline. On the environmental left, Sandrine Rousseau and David Belliard, assistant to the mayor of Paris, sympathize with the JSO movement, considering that the “flashy” actions in the great national and international museums are “justified” and are a “call to action”. ecologist”. Yannick Jadot, historical leader of EELV, on the other hand, denounces the “stupidity” of these behaviors: “My ecological commitment is a commitment to beauty, beauty. Beauty of nature, of the living, the human and non-human, of culture. Van Gogh is the most beautiful of nature and culture. The ecology and the climate deserve better than those idiotic caricatures. The environmental division at the risk of spreading new forms of radicalism, bordering on eco-terrorism, does not at all reassure those responsible for citizen security, on the street and in museums. A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior has commented on the attempted attack in Orsay in this way: “We are witnessing new forms of radical militancy. The young men arrested in London and the girl arrested in Paris are very young and are supported by radicals who may be their grandparents. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn, who was leader of the Labor Party – he was expelled for anti-Semitism – has joined the youth of Just Stop Oil. In France, the first actions carried out in the name of this movement, or others like it, are supported by La France Insumisa (LFI, populist extreme left) and the left wing of the environmentalists. From there, we can fear new actions. Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, has reacted quickly: “Our museums have to redouble their vigilance. Not all works can be protected with special glass. The great Parisian museums: the Louvre, the Pompidou Center or the Orsay, have begun to reinforce security measures, with more systematic controls on visitors. MORE INFORMATION news They do not damage a Toulouse-Lautrec in a Berlin museum by throwing fake blood at it Monet’s painting in Germany news No The National Gallery confirms that Van Gogh’s painting ‘Sunflowers’ was not damaged The French section of the International Committee for Museum Security (ICMS) has initiated a process of consultation and “global” reflection. An official spokesperson for the organization comments: “JSO’s actions risk provoking a very heavy-handed police build-up. Entry into many large museums, such as the Louvre, may require security measures similar to those already in place at airports.”