Activists covered Picasso painting with poster of mother and child covered in blood in Gaza –

Two people have moved to cover a Picasso painting at London’s National Gallery with a poster depicting a bloodied mother and child from the Gaza Strip, promoting their demand for an arms embargo on Israel.

This fact was confirmed by both the management of the museum and the activist group that organized the protest.

The National Gallery said the painting suffered “no damage”.

Activist group Youth Demand, which calls for an end to arms sales to Israel, said two of its activists went to paste the photo on the protective glass covering Picasso’s painting “Motherhood (La Maternité)” (1901), before throw red paint on the floor.

BREAKING

Two supporters of Youth Demand have pasted a photo of a Gazan mother and child over a Picasso masterpiece at the National Gallery to demand a two-way arms embargo on Israel.

At just before 12pm, the pair walked into room 43 at the National Gallery and plastered a… pic.twitter.com/cRK0BDJ08X

— London Live (@LondonLive) October 9, 2024

“Freedom, Freedom in Palestine!”

A video posted by the group on social media shows a guard quickly stepping in to take down the poster. One of the protesters shouts “Freedom, Freedom in Palestine!”, accusing the British government of being “complicit in genocide”, as he is detained by a museum guard.

The pro-Palestinian group Youth Demand in July held a demonstration over arms sales to Israel in front of the Cenotaph, Britain’s official war memorial, and planned to disrupt King Charles’ speech that month.

Today’s incident happened shortly before 12:00 local time. In a statement, the National Gallery underlined that “the police intervened and arrested” the two people. “The room is currently closed. There was no damage to any work,” the museum clarifies.

The National Gallery had recently become a site of action by climate activists.