PARIS — Protesters have thrown soup at the glass-protected Mona Lisa painting in Paris.

The 16th Century painting by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the world's most famous artworks, and is held at the Louvre in Paris.

It sits behind bulletproof glass so is unlikely to have been damaged.

A video shows two female protesters wearing T-shirts reading "food response" throwing soup at the painting.

They then stand in front of it, demanding the right to "healthy and sustainable food", saying "our agricultural system is sick".

Museum security are then seen putting black screens in front of them before the room is evacuated.

The French capital has seen protests by farmers in recent days, calling for an end to rising fuel costs and for regulations to be simplified - on Friday they blocked key roads in and out of Paris.

The Mona Lisa has been behind safety glass since the early 1950s, when it was damaged by a visitor who poured acid on it.

In 2019, the museum said it had installed a more transparent form of bulletproof glass to protect it.

In 2022, an activist threw cake at the painting, urging people to "think of the Earth".

The painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, causing an international sensation.

Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee of the world's most visited museum, hid in a cupboard overnight to take the painting.

It was recovered two years later when he tried to sell it to an antiques dealer in Florence, Italy. — BBC