Activists arrested in the Louvre sneak a camera into jail

It’s currently #COP21 in Paris, a meeting of global leaders gathered to discuss methods of arresting the world’s biggest problem. Climate change. Oil companies have a presence in the city too, but in an unlikely place – the Louvre. The museum – one of the largest in the world – has sponsorship deals with huge oil companies Total and Eni, who are reportedly pushing for a weak climate change deal in Paris.

Ten activists wearing all black and holding umbrellas were arrested inside the museum after walking through an "oil spill" that they’d sprayed across the marble floor. Outside, hundreds held signs saying "fossil free culture".

But once arrested, the protesters managed to sneak a phone into the cell and send a message to the outside world. “If oil companies continue to sponsor cultural institutions, it will allow them to cleanse their image and continue their damaging practices and business models.”

There is an irony in companies sponsoring insitutions that preserve the planet’s artefacts, when they patently don’t care about the world’s future. Watch the activists’ mobile phone video below, via New Internationalist.