Paris [France], May 30: The internet is left shocked and stunned after a viral video of a man at Paris's famous Louvre museum, disguised as an 'old woman', smeared cake all over the Mona Lisa painting on Sunday.
Swati Bhat
In the bizarre incident, the man, dressed like an old woman, jumped out of a wheelchair to smear the renowned painting of the Mona Lisa with cake. Netizens have flooded social media with videos and images of the painting stained with cake cream. Much to the shock of the onlookers at the museum, the man threw cake at the iconic painting before attempting to break through the bulletproof glass, meant to protect Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the perpetrator, who was sitting in the wheelchair, got up abruptly and walked towards the painting. After he failed in his attempt to smash the display glass, he threw cake on the painting, smearing the cream all over the panel of glass.
The man also sprinkled rose petals on the floor before the security knocked him down. In the viral video, the lawbreaker was seen shouting at the visitors in the museum in French.
A Spanish media interpreted his words as, "some people are trying to destroy the earth, think of the earth!" The man dressed as an elderly woman also wore a wig. Apparently, he entered the museum in a wheelchair, before he resorted to vandalism. The motive behind the attack is still unclear along with the question of how he managed to smuggle a cake inside the Louvre museum. However, there have been attacks on the Mona Lisa painting previously as well.
The masterpiece was once doused with acid, severely damaging the lower part of the painting, by a van