US climate activists condemn 18-month jail term for nonviolent art museum protester

It's hard to fathom how a peaceful protester can receive more prison time than many of the insurrectionists,' said one researcher, of Timothy Martin's sentence

Climate activists have condemned an 18-month jail term for a nonviolent protester who vandalized a display case at the National Gallery of Art as grossly disproportionate" and a violation of the constitutional protected rights to free speech and peaceful protest.

Timothy Martin, along with fellow activist Joanna Smith, staged the climate protest at the Washington DC gallery in April 2023, smearing washable red and black paint on the protective glass covering Edgar Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen Years sculpture.