PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) – The Mona Lisa was shaken but unharmed on Sunday when a visitor to the Louvre tried to smash the glass protecting the world’s most famous painting before smearing cream on its surface in a publicity stunt apparently weather-related.
The assailant was a man dressed as an old lady who jumped out of a wheelchair before attacking the window.
“Maybe it’s just crazy for me…” posted the author of a video of the aftermath of the incident which shows a Louvre employee cleaning the window. “(He) then proceeds to smear the cake on the glass and throws roses all over the place before being attacked by security.”
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The Louvre was not immediately available for comment.
Another video posted on social media showed the same member of staff finishing cleaning the window as another attendant removed a wheelchair in front of the Da Vinci masterpiece.
“Think of the earth, people are destroying the earth,” the wig-wearing man said in French in another video post that showed him walking away from the Paris gallery with the wheelchair, indicating that the incident likely had an environmentalist motive.
(https://twitter.com/klevisl007/status/1530997381545738243
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Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; edited by John Stonestreet
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