Climate protesters arrested for spraying Stonehenge with orange paint

Two people have been arrested in the UK after orange powder paint was used to deface Stonehenge.

Activist group Just stop the oilwhose organization focuses on climate change, shared Screenshots to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, June 19, for coordinated efforts at the site of a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.

Wiltshire Police said: “We have arrested two people following an incident at Stonehenge this afternoon.” In the current situation.

“At around noon, we responded to a report that two suspects had sprayed orange paint on some stones. Officers attended the scene and arrested two people on suspicion of damaging the ancient memorial. Our inquiries are continuing.”

PEOPLE has contacted Wiltshire Police for additional comment.

Just Stop Oil confirmed the identity of the suspects on their organisation’s official website: Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old student from Oxford, and Rajan Naidu, 73, from Birmingham.

Their aim was to ask “the next UK government to commit to working with other governments to agree a fair plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030”.

Rishi Sunak, the UK Prime Minister, condemned their actions.

He added: “This is a disgraceful act of vandalism on one of the oldest and most important monuments in the UK and the world.” Watchman.

the BBC A spokeswoman for English Heritage described Wednesday’s incident as “extremely disturbing”, but confirmed that the site remains open to the public.

Just Stop Oil planned the demonstration before the summer solstice, when crowds descend on Stonehenge to celebrate the longest day of the year.

“Stonehenge’s purpose at the top is to celebrate the natural world – but look at the state it’s in! We all have the right to live lives free of suffering, but the continued burning of oil, coal and gas leads to death and suffering on an unimaginable scale,” Lynch said in a statement. “An unparalleled one.”

The student echoed similar sentiments video It was filmed before the incident and shared on X after the arrests.

“These stones have been here for 5,000 years. What will the world look like in 5,000 years?” Lynch asked in the clip.

Naidu also shared a statement.

“Either we end the age of fossil fuels, or the age of fossil fuels will end us. Just as fifty years ago, when the world used international treaties to defuse the threats posed by nuclear weapons, today the world needs a non-proliferation treaty to phase out fossil fuels.” And support economies, workers and communities dependent on moving away from fossil fuels.

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“The orange maize flour we used to create the eye-catching scene will soon be washed away by the rain,” Naidu added, while urging the government to “sign the treaty.”