Pro-Palestine activists found guilty of criminal damage after targeting Picasso masterpiece 'Motherhood' in National Gallery protest

Published: 09:49, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 09:51, 28 July 2026 Two pro-Palestine activists who covered a Picasso masterpiece hanging in the National Gallery with a photo of a Gazan mother and child have been found guilty of criminal damage.  NHS worker Jai Halai, 25, and politics student Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, 23, plastered the poster over the glass cover of Picasso's 1901 painting 'Motherhood' on October 9, 2024.  Footage shared to social media by the activist group Youth Demand showed security guards unsuccessfully attempting to pull the pair away from the painting as they unveiled the picture of the Palestinian mother.  They then poured water-based paint over the wooden flooring before chanting 'Free Palestine' as they were removed from the gallery.  In another clip, the protesters could be heard shouting: 'The UK is complicit in genocide, [in Palestine] women are giving birth without any medical attention.  '87 per cent of the public support an arms embargo [on Israel]. We need a democratic revolution.'  Youth Demand, an off-shoot of Just Stop Oil, is an environmental and political activist group which calls for the British government to stop all trade with Israel and conducts nonviolent protests across the country.  Other notable stunts by the group include lining up fake body bags outside David Lammy's home while he was Foreign Secretary, and causing millions of pounds worth in disruption across London in April last year.  The pair covered Picasso's 'Motherhood' painting in the National Gallery with a poster of a Gazan mother and child  Halai and Rosenfeld, who are both members of Youth Demand, denied but were convicted of criminal damage by a jury at Southwark Crown Court after more than nine hours of deliberation by jurors.  Judge David Tomlinson released the pair on bail ahead of sentencing on a date to be fixed in September.  Giving evidence earlier in the trial, Michael Willie, head of security and facilities at the National Gallery, told jurors that no costs would have been incurred if not for paint poured on the floor.  He said: 'Paint was on the marble skirting, stanchion, rope barriers, and it was seeping into the sockets.'  Asked by prosecutor Toby Manhire how serious the damage was, he said: 'Just staining in the grains of the marble the mastic joint, we had to replace it in its entirety.  'It is safe to assume [the paint] could be cleaned away enough to reopen the gallery.'  Asked if there was an 'obvious case of permanent damage', he said: 'No, not at that point.'  While the stunt was billed at £8,000 in total, just £271.59 was attributed to cleaning.  The two activists walked into room 43 of the National Gallery just after midday and plastered a photograph of a Gazan mother clutching her child over the protective glass  Giving evidence earlier in the trial, Michael Willie, head of security and facilities at the National Gallery, earlier told jurors that no costs would have been incurred if not for paint poured on the floor Defending Halai, Katie McFadden said it was an 'aesthetic decision' to keep the National Gallery 'looking fancy'.  Jurors heard four workers were paid £120 an hour that evening 'putting the floor back as a result of the cleaning process that the gallery has undertaken.'  Mr Willie said the works were necessary to 'ensure the Gallery was presentable to members of the public the next morning.'  He said the works included sanding down the flooring and giving it a new finish because otherwise there would be 'patches' left from the cleaning.  Jurors were told the National Gallery incurred £250.28 for 'response costs', meaning the 'time taken to reopen the gallery.'  But defending Rosenfeld, Laura O'Brien said the gallery would have been prepared to deal with such incidents with so many visitors every day, adding: 'Things like that do happen in the National Gallery.'  He said: 'Not like that but you do get spillages, small ones.'  Halai, of Barnet, north London, and Rosenfeld, of Tower Hamlets, denied but were convicted of criminal damage.