▲ The Mona Lisa attacked with soup in the Louvre ⓒ ABC News

Two female environmental activists sprayed soup on Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

According to foreign media such as the Associated Press on the 28th, environmental activists chanted slogans about the "continuous food system" and sprayed soup on the artwork.

In a video shared on social media, the environmentalists wore T-shirts with the words 'Food Riposte(Food Response)' and threw soup at the Mona Lisa painting, shouting at visitors and the camera, "What's the most important?"

▲ The Mona Lisa attacked with soup in the Louvre ⓒ ABC News

Following this, they shouted, "Does art matter or the right to healthy and sustainable food matter?" and raised the issue of our agricultural system becoming ill and farmers dying while working.

Shortly after the incident, museum staff set up a black screen in front of the Mona Lisa and asked visitors to leave, and the activists were arrested by local police.

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, meanwhile, was not damaged by the soup, as it had been protected by bulletproof glass since 1956 when a Bolivian man hurled a stone to damage it. The artwork also experienced the same issues in 2022 and 2009.

▲ The Mona Lisa attacked with soup in the Louvre ⓒ ABC News

Meanwhile, the Food Riposte, a group of environmental activists, criticized the French government for losing its commitment to climate response and argued on its website that the state should step up and come up with policies that ensure healthy food and affordable income for farmers with a system similar to the health insurance system.

Currently, various protests are taking place in France due to farmers' complaints about low agricultural prices and labor costs. Before the incident, protests using tractors on roads across the country and throwing agricultural waste at government offices were followed in France.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com