A man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair threw cake at the Mona Lisa.
Wearing lipstick and a wig and speaking in French, the alleged attacker said : “Think of the planet, there are people who are destroying the planet, think about that. That’s why I did it.”
Da Vinci’s painting had glass installed in the 1950s to protect it after an acid attack and is apparently undamaged.
Following Sunday’s incident, a man was detained and sent to a police psychiatric unit and an investigation has opened by the Paris police.
According to PA News, A US visitor witnessed the attack:
"The crowd begin gasping and we looked up and some man in a wheelchair [dressed] as an old lady ran up to the painting and started punching it before smearing cake all over it."
"It took about 10 to 15 seconds for the security to actually take the man away, but the crowd seemed to panic a little bit.
"It was jaw-dropping, it was a lot to take in considering how historic Mona Lisa is... the moment was once in a million."
