Police arrest two people after ranting eco-morons attacked Mona Lisa in the Louvre by throwing soup at Da Vinci's priceless masterpiece before launching into climate change rant

Police have arrested two people after eco activists threw soup at the Mona Lisa before they began shouting climate slogans at the gathered crowd at the Louvre Museum.

Protesters from French organisation Riposte Alimentaire, meaning ‘food response’, sprayed the 16th-century masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci with pumpkin soup as they demanded the right to ‘healthy and sustainable food’.

A statement from the Louvre said that the Salle des Etats, where the Mona Lisa is displayed, was evacuated after the demonstration and closed for an hour while cleaning was carried, before being reopened to visitors around midday.

The Paris museum confirmed no damage was done to the world-famous painting, which is on display behind protective armoured glass, but said that it would lodge a complaint.

Following the incident, Paris police said this afternoon that they have arrested two people.

Eco-morons hurl soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre in Paris

The duo stand in front of the splattered artwork with one revealing a white t-shirt with the words ‘Riposte Alimentaire’

The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world and holds the Guinness World Record for the highest insurance valuation of $100 million in 1962 – around $1 billion today.

Video of the protest shows two people clambering under the barrier after hurling the orange liquid at the world famous painting.

They stand in front of the splattered artwork as museum staff rush into view carrying protective screens.

One of the activists then takes off her jacket to reveal a white T-shirt with eco-group ‘Riposte Alimentaire’ written in black capital letters.

The eco activists are part of the so-called A22 network movement – a collection of protest groups in 12 countries across the world, which includes Just Stop Oil in the UK.

Riposte Alimentaire claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened at about 10am, and identified the activists as 24-year-old Sasha and Marie-Juliette, 63.

The group told MailOnline the two women had thrown tomato soup at the painting.

‘What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food,’ they asked, standing in front of the painting and speaking in turn.

‘Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.’

The Louvre told MailOnline ‘no damage was done to the painting, which has been behind protected under this armoured glass since 2005’.

‘The Louvre’s security staff immediately intervened,’ a statement read.

‘The Salle des Etats, where the Mona Lisa is displayed, was evacuated calmly.

‘Visitor access to the Salle des Etats was then suspended for an hour, while the necessary cleaning was carried out.

‘The room was reopened to visitors at 11.30am.

‘The museum will lodge a complaint.’

The action comes as French farmers have been protesting for days to demand better pay, taxes and regulations.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Friday announced several measures, but road blockages have continued in different parts of the country.

Today’s action follows a series of such stunts by climate activists against world-famous paintings to demand more action to phase out fossil fuels and protect the planet.

The eco group said they were demanding ‘the establishment of sustainable food social security’.

In a long rambling thread on X, shared by Just Stop Oil, Riposte Alimentaire said it wants ‘the integration of food into the general social security system’ as one in three people skip meals in France.

The group said between five and seven million people used food aid in the country in 2022.

In a statement, Riposte Alimentaire said people’s access to food ‘was under attack’ and social security food collective would mean each resident would benefit from a food card worth €150.

It is the latest attack on the masterpiece in the French capital’s Louvre museum, after someone threw a custard pie at it in May 2022, but it’s thick glass casing ensured it came to no harm.

The duo stoop under the barrier before taking off their jackets to reveal the name of eco group Riposte Alimentaire

One of activists was identified as 24-year-old Sasha

This is the moment the eco zealots hurl tomato soup at the Mona Lisa

The bulletproof protective glass in front of the masterpiece was covered in soup

The other eco zealot Marie-Juliette, 63, peers in between protective screenings which were placed around the artwork

‘What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food,’ they asked, standing in front of the painting and speaking in turn

Scores of bystanders watched on, snapping pictures of the Mona Lisa which was partially obscured from view by smears of pie crusted on the protective glass

Witnesses said a man, who was wearing a wig and dressed as a woman, was rolling past Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece in a wheelchair before suddenly leaping to his feet and launching a pie at the canvas (the man is pictured being led away by security)

Visitors to the Louvre art gallery in Paris were left stunned by the incident which happened moments before closing time at the world-famous art gallery

A man, who was wearing a wig and dressed as a woman, was rolling past the famous masterpiece in a wheelchair before suddenly leaping to his feet and launching a pie at the canvas.

The perpetrator then threw a bouquet of roses into the air and was tackled to the ground by Louvre security guards moments later.

No damage was caused to the priceless painting which is protected by a bulletproof screen.

Scores of bystanders watched on, snapping pictures of the Mona Lisa which was partially obscured from view by smears of pie crusted on the protective glass.

The Louvre said at the time ‘the individual was immediately seized and evacuated by the reception and surveillance agents and then handed over to the police, who came to the scene’.

France has faced major protests in the last few days by farmers in a bid to pressure the government to give in to their demands that growing food be made easier and more lucrative.

The movement has spread across the country with protesters using their tractors to shut down long stretches of road and slow traffic on some major routes.

The farmers are seeking better pay for their produce, less red tape, and protection against cheap imports.

The artwork had the glass installed in the 1950s to protect it after an acid attack. It was upgraded to armoured glass in 2005.

In November Just Stop Oil eco zealots smashed the protective glass on the Rokeby Venus painting at the National Gallery.

The activists sparked fury when a video was uploaded showing them hammering the glass of the priceless oil painting, shouting ‘it is time for deeds not words’.

The 17th-century painting, by Spanish artist Diego Velazquez, is the same artwork slashed by Canadian suffragette Mary Richardson with a butcher’s knife more than 100 years ago.

In the footage, the protesters repeatedly strike blows down on the painting’s protective glass with hammers after hopping over the barrier.

Referencing the women’s suffrage movement, they then shout: ‘Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words. It is time to Just Stop Oil.’

The protesters struck the painting using what the gallery has described as ’emergency rescue hammers’

Just Stop Oil eco-zealots Hanan and Harrison allegedly smashed the protective glass on a Rokeby Venus oil painting worth an estimated £72.5million at the National Gallery

Hanan and Harrison, the activists accused of vandalising the painting, were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage

The pair claim the demonstration came in response to the Government having revealed plans for more oil licenses

The painting was previously slashed by suffragette Mary Richardson in March 1914. In a protest against the imprisonment of fellow suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, Ms Richardson left seven slashes on the painting (pictured)

Just Stop Oil sparked further fury when they marched towards the Cenotaph in the centre of Whitehall – just days ahead of Remembrance services.

The male activist added: ‘Politics is failing us. Politics failed women in 1914. If millions will die due to new oil and gas licences, millions.

‘If we love history, if we love art, and if we love our families we must Just Stop Oil.’

Met Police swooped in on the National Gallery and arrested the activists, identified by Just Stop Oil as Hanan, 22, and Harrison, 20, on suspicion of criminal damage.

‘The glass protecting a painting at the National Gallery has been vandalised,’ the force said, adding that more activists were slow marching on Whitehall, the road that hosts many UK government buildings.

The gallery said the pair ‘appeared to strike’ the glass protecting the painting with ‘what appeared to be emergency rescue hammers’ and that the room was cleared of visitors.