Protestors who threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers appeal against ‘draconian’ prison sentences

Two protestors who threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting have been in court today appealing against their prison sentences.

Phoebe Plummer was sentenced to two years and two months for the soup throwing, while Anna Holland received a prison sentence of 20 months.

They are part of a group of 16 activists who are appealing against their sentences, which range from 15 months to five years in prison. Others were jailed for stopping traffic, blocking an oil facility and attending a Zoom call to discuss disrupting traffic on the UK’s M25 motorway.

All 16 appellants are from the protest group Just Stop Oil whose stated aim is “nonviolent direct action to resist the destruction of our communities as a result of climate breakdown. We do not consent to plans that will result in 3C of warming and mass death.”

Why are Just Stop Oil appealing their prison sentences?

The Just Stop Oil protestors say they received unduly harsh prison terms – which total 41 years – for disruptive but peaceful actions.

The group argues that the jailed protestors are “political prisoners” who were “acting in self-defense and to protect our families and communities.”

They say the protestors are in prison “because Just Stop Oil threatens the profits of the fossil fuel industry.”

Environmental organisations Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK are backing the appeals of five of the protesters, who were jailed for planning November 2022 demonstrations that saw protesters climb gantries above a busy motorway.

Friends of the Earth said the sentences posed a “serious threat to our democracy.”

“Silencing those striving for a better world will not make these escalating crises disappear – doing so only serves to stifle our democracy,” the group’s senior lawyer Katie de Kauwe said.

Other appellants were jailed for digging and occupying tunnels under the road leading to an oil terminal in southeast England.

Previous UK government brought in tough new anti-protest laws

The Conservative government that lost power in July 2024 toughened anti-protest laws in response to eco-activists who blocked roads and bridges, glued themselves to trains, splattered artworks with paint, sprayed buildings with fake blood and doused athletes in orange powder to draw attention to the escalating climate crisis.

The government said the laws prevented extremist activists from hurting the economy and disrupting daily life.

The Court of Appeal hearing is scheduled to last two days, with the three judges likely to hand down their ruling several days or weeks later.