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Just Stop Oil, an English environmental activist group that Roger Hallam and Indigo Rumbelow co-founded, has drawn criticism for yet another vandalism incident on Monday, November 6, targeting Spanish artist Diego Velázquez's Rokeby Venus artwork.
The painting was kept protected with a glass panel at London’s National Gallery, which was then battered with safety hammers by two protesters from the group, who were identified as Harrison, 20, and Hanan, 22, by the group itself. The Met Police arrested the activists on suspicion of criminal damage. The National Gallery later said that Velázquez’s painting was removed from display to get examined by conservators.
The group says its only goal is to get the UK government to cease granting licenses for any new fossil fuel projects. It has committed similar acts of damage in several locations throughout Europe in protest.
However, after Monday’s vandalism in London, some internet sleuths dug out a piece of ironic information about the environmentalist group. They found that one of its primary funding sources is Aileen Getty, an American philanthropist who is also the descendent of petroleum industrialist J. Paul Getty — the founder of Getty Oil.
Netizens slam Just Stop Oil for vandalism over Aileen Getty's funding
According to Just Stop Oil’s website, the group receives its primary funding from the Climate Emergency Fund — a network based in the United States that has Aileen Getty as its founding donor. Several people called out the environment group for receiving a large amount of funds from Aileen, whose family was involved in the oil business.
Here's how people have reacted:
Reason behind vandalizing the "Rokeby Venus" painting
Just Stop Oil addressed Monday’s protest by the two activists and said that the oil painting was severely criticized back in 1914 as part of the suffragette movement where women demanded voting rights. After running the hammer on the glass panel, one of the protesters yelled at the people present in the gallery:
“Women did not get the vote by voting. It is time for deeds, not words. It is time to just stop oil.”
The other protester chimed in and accused politics of failing the common public, and made a reference to the 1914 movement. They added:
"If we love history, if we love art, if we love families, we must just stop oil."
On the same day, a large group of protesters from the group also assembled at Whitehall, Central London, and caused obstruction to traffic. Dozens of them were arrested by the police.
