SOD OFF SWAMPIES: Fresh attack on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers after Just Stop Oil activists jailed.

The National Gallery said the three activists had been arrested and the paintings remain unharmed after the incident at 2.30pm.

A statement said: “The paintings were removed from display and examined by a conservator and are unharmed. We are aiming to reopen the exhibition as soon as possible.”

In a video on social media, one protester said: “Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history.”

Holland and Plummer, both 22, were found guilty of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court in July.

During their trial, it was heard the activists, who denied damaging the painting, caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the frame, which prosecutors said was “a piece of art in itself”.

The protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the 1888 work in October 2022, before kneeling down in front of the painting and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it.

Visitors were escorted out by security, who then shut the doors to the room containing the painting.

Raj Chada, defending Holland, said the women “did check” that the painting was protected by a glass cover before throwing the soup.

Plummer, representing herself, told the hearing: “My choice today is to accept whatever sentence I receive with a smile.

Earlier: Joel Kotkin: Environmentalism is a Fundamentalist Religion.