German activists throw mashed potatoes at Monet painting
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Berlin: Two climate activists threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting at the Barberini Museum in Germany. They were protesting against fossil fuel extraction.
They belong to a group called Last Generation (Letzte Generation). The organisation caught the incident on camera and posted it on Twitter. They were wearing orange high-vis vests and threw the food over the painting and its gold frame. They also glued themselves to the wall below the painting and shouted, "Does it take mashed potato on a painting to make you listen? This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food."
The painting is worth $110 million and was not damaged because it was enclosed in glass.
Letzte Generation captioned the video, "We make this Monet the stage and the public the audience. If it takes a painting – with mashed potatoes or tomato soup thrown at it – to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all, then we'll give you mashed potatoes on a painting!"
Museum director Ortrud Westheider said he is shocked at the attack even though he understands the concern activists are raising. "While I understand the activists' urgent concern in the face of the climate catastrophe, I am shocked by the means with which they are trying to lend weight to their demands."
