Paris: Two climate change activists hurled soup at the protective glass in front of the world-famous "Mona Lisa" painting in Paris' Louvre museum on Sunday. Video footage showed two women flinging red soup at Leonard da Vinci's masterpiece, to gasps from onlookers.

"What is more important? Art or the right to have a healthy and sustainable food system?" shouted the activists, speaking in French. They had ducked under a security barrier to get as close as they could to the painting and were led away by Louvre security guards. The activists represented the French organisation "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Response), which issued a statement saying the protest sought to highlight the need to protect the environment and sources of food.

In recent years, many activists have targeted art to raise awareness about climate change. The glass in front of the "Mona Lisa" was smothered in cream in a protest in May 2022. Other attempts have included throwing soup at Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery in October 2022, and in the following month campaigners glued themselves to Goya paintings in Madrid's Prado museum.