- Two climate change protesters arrested after spraying Stonehenge with orange powder paint.
- The protesters were part of Just Stop Oil, a group calling for the UK to phase out fossil fuels.
- English Heritage, which looks after Stonehenge, criticised the vandalism but said the site remained open to the public.
Two climate change protesters were arrested on Wednesday after they sprayed orange powder paint on Stonehenge, a prehistoric landmark in Wiltshire, England.
This is the latest action by Just Stop Oil, part of a network of civil disobedience groups that have defaced famous artworks, disrupted high-profile events and protested outside politicians’ homes to draw attention to the climate crisis. Just Stop Oil is demanding that the next UK government commit to stopping the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Just Stop Oil said the protesters were Niamh Lynch, 21, a student at Oxford University, and Rajan Naidu, 73, from Birmingham.
“Rain will soon wash away the orange cornstarch used to create an eye-catching spectacle, but the need for effective government action to mitigate the devastating impacts of the climate and ecological crisis will not disappear anytime soon,” Lynch said in a statement.
Wiltshire Police said they had arrested two people on suspicion of damaging ancient monuments, but did not reveal their names.
English Heritage, a charity that looks after hundreds of historic sites, and British politicians on Wednesday criticised Just Stop Oil’s actions.
“Obviously this is incredibly distressing and our curators are assessing the extent of the damage,” English Heritage posted on Twitter. “We will provide further updates, but the site remains open.”
British Chancellor Rishi Sunak told media outlets including the Guardian that the defacement of Stonehenge was a “disgraceful act of vandalism against one of the oldest and most important monuments in Britain and the world”.
