Pro-Palestinian protesters guilty after covering Picasso masterpiece with Gaza image

Two Youth Demand activists have been found guilty of criminal damage after covering a Pablo Picasso masterpiece with an image of a mother and child from Gaza during a protest at London’s National Gallery.

Jai Halai, 25, an NHS worker from Barnet, and Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, 23, a politics student from Tower Hamlets, were convicted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court over the demonstration on 9 October 2024.

The pair had denied the charge.

During the protest, they placed a large photograph of a mother and child from Gaza over the protective glass protecting Picasso’s 1901 painting Motherhood before pouring water-based paint onto the gallery floor and chanting slogans calling for Britain to end trade with Israel.

Footage released by Youth Demand showed security guards attempting to remove the activists as they held the image in front of the artwork.

Youth Demand, an offshoot of Just Stop Oil, campaigns for the UK Government to end all trade with Israel and has staged a series of high-profile demonstrations linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

Giving evidence during the trial, Michael Willie, the National Gallery’s head of security and facilities, told jurors the painting itself was not damaged, but repairs were needed after paint seeped into parts of the gallery floor.

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

Describing the damage, Willie told the court: “Just staining in the grains of the marble, the mastic joint, we had to replace it in its entirety.”

He added: “It is safe to assume (the paint) could be cleaned away enough to reopen the gallery.”

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

Jurors heard the incident led to costs of around £8,000, although only £271.59 related directly to cleaning, with the remaining costs covering repairs, staff time and reopening the gallery.

Willie said work had been carried out overnight to ensure the gallery was “presentable to members of the public the next morning”.

Defence lawyers argued that some of the costs reflected the gallery’s decision about how the floor should be restored rather than damage caused by the protest itself.

After more than nine hours of deliberations, the jury found both defendants guilty of criminal damage.

Judge David Tomlinson released Halai and Rosenfeld on bail ahead of sentencing, which is due to take place in September.