Pro-Palestine protesters found guilty of damaging National Gallery Picasso masterpiece

Two pro-Palestine activists have been found guilty of damaging a National Gallery Picasso masterpiece.

The pair have been convicted of criminal damage and have been bailed until a sentencing appearance, yet to be set in September.

Jai Halai, a 25-year-old NHS worker, and Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, a 23-year-old politics student, attached a photo of a Gazan mother over the glass cover of Picasso’s “Motherhood” painting on October 9, 2024.

The pair then poured water-based red paint over the National Gallery ‘s wooden floor, before shouting “Free Palestine” as they were dragged away.

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Footage shown in court shows security guards attempting to pull the pair away, unsuccessfully, as they unveiled the picture of the Palestinian mother.

In another clip, they can be heard saying: “The UK is complicit in genocide... [in Palestine] women are giving birth without any medical attention.

“Eighty-seven per cent of the public support an arms embargo [on Israel]. We need a democratic revolution.”

Jurors deliberated for more than nine hours and found Halai and Rosenfield - who are both members of Youth Demand - guilty of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court.

Michael Willie, the head of security and facilities at the National Gallery, said in evidence that no costs would have been incurred if the red paint had not been poured on the floor.

He said: “Paint was on the marble skirting, stanchion, rope barriers and it was seeping into the sockets.”

Prosecutor Toby Maguire asked Mr Willie how serious the damage was, to which he responded: “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.”

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Asked whether there was an “obvious case of permanent damage,” he said: “No, not at that point.”

The stunt was billed for £8,000; however, only £271.59 was attributed to cleaning.

Katie McFadden, defending Halai, said it was an “aesthetic decision” to keep the National Gallery “looking fancy”.

Jurors were told that four workers were charged £120 an hour in the evening following the incident “putting the floor back as a result of the cleaning process that the gallery has undertaken.”

Mr Willie said the work was necessary to “ensure the Gallery was presentable to members of the public the next morning.”

He added that the works included sanding the floor to give it a new finish; otherwise there would have been “patches” left from the cleaning.

The court was told that the National Gallery incurred £250.28 for “response costs,” being the “time taken to reopen the gallery.”

Laura O’Brien, defence for Rosenfeld, 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.”

Mr Willie said: “Not like that, but you do get spillages, small ones.”

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