• The “Mona Lisa,” the famous Leonardo da Vinci panting, was not damaged during the incident because of its protective glass case
• A food sustainability activist group called “Riposte Alimentaire” took responsibility for the Sunday incident
• In a statement to PEOPLE, the Louvre said the incident took place at about 10 a.m. and that the room housing the “Mona Lisa” was reopened at about 11:30 a.m.
The women then ducked under protective ropes in front of the painting and revealed t-shirts that read “food counterattack,” per the BBC.
According to the news site, they then stood in front of the 16th-century painting and said in French, “What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food? Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.”
As they spoke, the security guards at the museum put black screens in front of them to block them from view and escorted other patrons away from the painting.
A food sustainability activist group called “Riposte Alimentaire,” which translates to “Food Response,” took responsibility for the incident in aseries of posts on X (formerly Twitter).
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In the posts, the group said it wanted to raise awareness about hunger in France and unsustainable food production, saying it sought “the integration of food into the general social security system,“CNN reports.
source: people.com
