A climate activist has compared herself to Martin Luther King after sticking herself in a Vincent van Gogh painting.
Louis McKechnie, one Just Stop Oil protesters, drew comparisons between himself and the civil rights leader in court before he was convicted for damaging the frame of artwork.
He and Emily Brocklebank, 24, another activist, were found guilty of causing criminal damage under £2,000.
The pair were glued to Van Gogh’s 1889 work Peach Trees In Blossom at the Courtauld Gallery in London on June 30.
McKechnie, 22, appeared in court via video link from HMP Peterborough.
When asked if the protests had gained public support, he said Dr King was “America’s most hated man” in 1960.
Still, the civil rights movement “still works,” he said, and “people don’t have to like what we’re doing.”
McKechnie, from Weymouth, Dorset, has a history of climate protests.
In September, he was given a six-week penalty for tying himself to the post during a Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle in March, causing the match to be postponed.
Just Stop Oil wants the government to stop issuing all new oil and gas permits.
Louis McKechnie ties himself to the goalpost during the Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle
‘Artist’s wish’
In court on Tuesday, McKechnie argued that Van Gogh would support their protest because he values nature.
“I believe that a purely logical, non-psychotic person who owns this valuable painting by Vincent van Gogh will respect the artist’s wishes,” he said.
“He himself said that the art of nature is not as valuable as nature itself.”
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Oil protesters glued to the masterpiece in the National Gallery
Francesca Cociani, in defense, asked Karen Serres, curator of the gallery, whether the painting had increased in value thanks to the protest.
Miss Serres replied: “Absolutely not.”
The incident was captured in CCTV footage, which showed activists entering the building after buying tickets for an exhibition.
They then took off their jackets to reveal orange Just Stop Oil t-shirts and attached themselves to the artwork.
Brocklebank to Westminster Magistrates Court
‘Permanent Damage’
Sentencing the pair at Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday, District Judge Neeta Minhas said the 18th-century frame had been “permanently damaged”.
McKechnie was jailed for three weeks and Brocklebank, from Yeadon, Leeds, received a 21-day sentence, suspended for six months.
She was also placed under a six-week curfew, during which time she would be monitored electronically.
McKechnie was previously sentenced to six weeks in prison in September for protesting a Premier League game.
Just Stop Oil has stepped up its campaign of “civil unrest” in recent weeks, block M25, smear chocolate cake on wax figures of the king and car showroom spray with orange paint.
Another Van Gogh painting was targeted last month by two protesters throw tomato soup than it.
Activists in other countries have also used the artwork to draw attention to the climate crisis.
In Germany mashed potatoes were thrown on a painting of Monet and activists in Austria black oil splashing on a Klimt.
