Pro-Palestine activists took over London’s British Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Sunday accusing both institution’s over alleged complicity regarding Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. At the latter museum, 350 activists unfurled a massive quilt at the entrance made up of individual works woven together from artists around the world, including traditional taṭrīz embroidery, native to Palestinian villages.
According to an Artnet report, the protestors also demanded that The Met “cut ties with board members who profit from ongoing Israeli bombardment and settler-colonial occupation of Palestine”, as well as added concern regarding the “preservation of Palestinian cultural heritage sites being destroyed by Israel.”
Across the pond, the British Museum stopped allowing visitors in around midday after pro-Palestine supporters gathered outside its main entrance, raising concerns towards the institution’s partnership with BP. Having recently signed a 10-year extended partnership with the oil corporation to redevelop its Bloomsbury building, the British Museum has been heavily criticized in the past for its links to fossil fuel extraction from climate activists, as well as the most recent protest claiming: “Sponsored by BP = sponsored by colonial genocide.”
“British Petroleum was a natural first target for our campaign because it is investing in Israeli settler-colonialism, stripping Palestinian waters of their resources, and profiting from colonial genocide and ethnic cleansing,” said the UK-based group, Energy Embargo for Palestine, in a statement. No arrests were made at either protest.
