A group of survivors of a mass canola oil poisoning four decades ago said on Tuesday they had occupied Madrid’s El Prado museum and would commit suicide within hours if the government did not respond to their demands.

“Six hours after the start of our presence here, we will start ingesting the pills,” the protesters said mid-morning on the Twitter account of an association for victims of a case that affected thousands of people in 1981. The statement demanded intervention from Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to help victims of one of the world’s biggest food poisoning scandals.

Thousands of Spaniards suffered lung diseases that were later related to the consumption of processed rapeseed cooking oil. Thousands of others suffered debilitating syndromes for life. A spokesperson for the El Prado museum and art gallery did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Cadena SER news outlet published a photo showing five protesters, including one in a wheelchair, in front of “Las Meninas”, a famous painting by Diego Velazquez.

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