Three Just Stop Oil activists banned from protesting in London ahead of trial over attack on Van Gogh paintings
28 October 2024, 15:31 | Updated: 28 October 2024, 15:42
Three Just Stop Oil activists have been banned from protesting in London ahead of their trial for allegedly throwing soup over two Vincent Van Gogh paintings.
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Stephen Simpson, 71, Mary Somerville, 77, and Phillipa Green, 24, are each charged with two counts of damaging the frames of Van Gogh's Sunflowers 1889 and Sunflowers 1888 at the National Gallery in London on September 27.
The trio appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
Simpson and Somerville, who attended court in person, and Green, who appeared remotely from Stratford Magistrates' Court, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
They were released on conditional bail pending their trial on January 5, 2026.
Judge Alexander Milne banned the three defendants from taking part in protest action within the M25 until the date of their trial.
The defendants' lawyer, Raj Chada, argued the ban was a "disproportional" infringement on their right to protest because London is "the seat of government".
Judge Milne said: "The application of the defendants' right to protest is a relative one - and there seems to be a great deal of blurring between the exercise of that right and the commission of criminal offences.
"This court is not banning them from lawful protest anywhere else in the UK, but I will ban them from participating in any protest within the M25."
A pre-trial review hearing is due to take place at the same court on November 24 next year.
In September, Plummer was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and Holland was given a 20-month term over the October 2022 protest at the National Gallery.
