Anna Boyne
22-year-old Phoebe Plummer, the Just Stop Oil protestor who threw cans of tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in London’s National Gallery in 2022, has been remanded to prison.
Phoebe Plummer appeared before a Judge at Highbury Magistrates Court on the 16th November, charged with a Public Order Act 2023 Section 7 offence relating to interfering with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure.
Phoebe Plummer
The hearing and remand order followed Plummer’s arrest after slow marching on the streets of London at Earls Court.
Plummer had previously been charged for their participation in the four-day Just Stop Oil protest that shut down parts of the M25 earlier this month. Activists had climbed motorway gantries and forced the M25 to close in several places.
“How many people will die before you stop sending people like me to prison?”
When asked by the Judge whether they intended to continue marching, Plummer replied: “I will continue exercising my human right to protest.”
The Judge ordered that Plummer be remanded to prison for a maximum of six months, on the grounds that it was believed they were at risk of re-offending.
Responses
Since their court appearance, Plummer stated: “I will continue to march while they continue to licence new oil, gas and coal. How many more children have to die before you listen? How many more floods have to wipe out entire villages?”
How many people will die before you stop sending people like me to prison? Sir Mark Rowley has been handed a dossier of evidence. Why won’t you investigate the real criminals?”
Encouraging people to take to the streets of London this week in solidarity with other young activists who have recently been arrested, Just Stop Oil responded: “Young people should not have to fear arrest and imprisonment for marching in the face of societal collapse.”
⛓️ PHOEBE PLUMMER GIVEN 6 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR MARCHING
🧡 Phoebe, 22, has just been remanded to prison until 16.05.2024. Their crime? Marching in protest against new oil and gas.
🧑⚖️ Phoebe is one of six Just Stop Oil supporters imprisoned in the last 14 days. When asked by… pic.twitter.com/EdnUZ6atwp
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) November 16, 2023
The organisation, which formed in early 2022, are campaigning against new oil and gas projects in the UK to insulate British homes, subsidise public transport and tax the big polluters.
Just Stop Oil
Just Stop Oil’s previous acts of peaceful protest have included spraying orange paint over UK government and university buildings.
In October 2022, climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.
When Plummer and another Just Stop Oil activist, Anna Holland, threw cans of tomato soup at Van Gogh’s painting, it sparked widespread debate. Many were concerned about damage to the iconic artwork, while others questioned the futility of their actions.
Teenage climate activist Phoebe Plummer has recently gone viral after she threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers at London's National Gallery in mid-October pic.twitter.com/tuOxGylNTt
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 3, 2022
The painting had been protected by a sheet of glass, so was left undamaged.
In an interview with Hunger, Plummer stated: “We chose to throw soup rather than paint to symbolise the link between the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis, as they are both one crisis driven by our government’s greed for fossil fuels.”
Thirty-three million people in Pakistan have had their lives ruined by floods, but after just two young people threw soup at a painting, more people than ever are talking about the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis,” they said.
COP28
Plummer will appear at Southwark Crown Court on 30th November to enter their plea.
On the same day, the COP28 climate summit will convene for talks on combatting and adapting to climate change.
The decision to hold COP28 in Dubai has attracted much controversy, as the UAE is one of the largest oil producers in the world. The conference’s president, Sultan Al Jaber, is also the CEO of the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
However, Al Jaber has recently urged oil and gas companies to be conscious of solutions to climate change, claiming: “Billions of people, lives and livelihoods who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change depend upon the adoption of this recommended approach at COP28.”
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Featured image courtesy of Alisdare Hickson on Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.
