Climate activists arrested after throwing mashed potatoes at Monet painting

Which lunch food might end up on a famous painting next?

Two climate activists on Sunday threw mashed potatoes on the Claude Monet painting "Grainstacks" at a museum in Germany, per The New York Times. They proceeded to glue themselves to the wall where the painting was hanging, with one of the activists saying, "People are starving, people are freezing, people are dying. We are in a climate catastrophe, and all you are afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting."

The protester was referencing a recent similar incident in which climate protesters threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting in London. Like in that incident, the Monet painting was covered in glass, so it did not sustain any damage, according to the museum.

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Police arrested the two protesters and are investigating them for property damage and trespassing, according to NBC News, which noted the painting sold at auction for over $110 million in 2019. The video was shared on social media by the German climate group Last Generation, which tweeted, "If it takes a painting — with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it — to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we'll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!"