Protesters poured dark sticky liquid over the plinth of a statue in the British Museum yesterday to protest against its sponsorship by oil giant BP, the museum said.

The museum said the liquid was molassess and the 3,000-year-old Hoa Hakananai’a Easter Island statue of a human head and torso suffered no damage.

Protest group Culture Beyond Oil said it had chosen the object because it "represents the way in which civilisations once considered invincible can collapse in a short period of time".

The group said in a statement the five activists who took part, had their faces covered by black veils, took care not to pour the substance on the sculpture.

The giant oil spill from a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico has led activists to step up their protests against the British company, and they have also targeted institutions the company supports.

The British Museum said BP was one of its "most longstanding corporate partners", having started its sponsorship in 1996.

Meanwhile, BP robots have attached a new, tighter-fitting cap on top of the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil leak, raising hopes that the flow of crude polluting the water can be stopped for the first time in nearly three months.