Protesters who targeted Girl with a Pearl Earring jailed by Dutch court

Two Belgian climate change activists who last week targeted the Johannes Vermeer painting Girl with a Pearl Earring have been sentenced to two months in prison by a Dutch court, of which one month was suspended.

One activist glued his head to glass covering the painting at a museum in The Hague. The artwork was not damaged, gallery staff said.

The protesters said their action was intended to highlight how seeing artwork destroyed evoked a similar feeling to seeing the planet destroyed.

The public prosecutor asked for a four-month sentence, with two months suspended, but the judge said she did not want her sentence to discourage other people from demonstrating.

The two men went to trial through a fast-track process on charges of destruction and open violence against the painting. A third activist, who did not agree with the trial being fast-tracked, will appear in court on Friday.

All three are part of Just Stop Oil Belgium, which is not affiliated with Just Stop Oil in Britain.