OSLO: Climate activists tried to glue themselves to Edvard Munch’s masterpiece The Scream in Oslo on Friday to protest against Norway’s oil industry, but guards intervened and the artwork was undamaged, police said.

“We are at the National Museum after a report from guards there. They have taken control of three people, two of whom tried to glue themselves to a painting,” police wrote on Twitter.

“They did not succeed, but there are traces of glue on the glass case. No reports of damage to the painting.”

The iconic painting from 1893, now a symbol of existential angst, depicts a humanlike figure standing on a bridge, clutching its head in apparent horror against the backdrop of a swirling sky.

Stop Oil Exploration, a group of environment activists, told a Norwegian culture magazine that its intention was to “snap people out of their apathy” in order to “arrive at the conversation we want to have”.

Norway is the biggest oil producer in Western Europe.

Protesters have targeted numerous priceless pieces of art in museums across Europe in recent weeks to protest the lack of action against climate change.

Dozens of the world’s top museums issued a joint declaration on Thursday saying environmental activists who attack paintings “severely underestimate” the damage that could be caused.

Scientists told the UN climate summit in Egypt on Friday that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, are on track to rise one percent this year to reach an all-time high.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022