Two people have been arrested in the UK after using orange powder paint to deface Stonehenge.
Activist group Just Stop Oil, whose organization focuses on climate change, shared footage on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday, June 19, of a coordinated effort at the site of a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.
“We have arrested two people following an incident at Stonehenge this afternoon,” Wiltshire Police said in a statement.
“Around noon, we responded to a report that two suspects sprayed some of the stones with orange paint. Police officers went to the scene and arrested two people on suspicion of damaging an ancient monument. Our inquiries are ongoing.”
PEOPLE has contacted Wiltshire Police for further comment.
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Just stop the oil at Stonehenge.
HANDOUT/Just Stop Oil/AFP via Getty
Just Stop Oil confirmed the suspects’ identities on their organisation’s official website as Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old student from Oxford, and Rajan Naidu, 73, from Birmingham.
Their aim was to demand “that the new UK government commits to working with other governments to agree a fair plan to end the extraction and flaring of oil, gas and coal by 2030.”
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, condemned their actions.
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Stonehenge covered in orange Just Stop Oil, June 2024.
Only Stop Oil/MEGA
Crowds gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice for the first time since the pandemic began
“This is a disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the oldest and most important monuments in the UK and the world,” he said, according to Guard.
The BBC reported that a spokeswoman for English Heritage called Wednesday’s incident “extremely disturbing” but confirmed the site remained open to the public.
Just Stop Oil planned the protest ahead of the summer solstice, when crowds descend on Stonehenge to mark the longest day of the year.
Just Stop Oil at Stonehenge, June 2024.
HANDOUT/Just Stop Oil/AFP via Getty
“Stonehenge on the solstice is a celebration of the natural world — but look at the state of it! We all have the right to live a life free of suffering, but the continued burning of oil, coal and gas leads to death and suffering on an unparalleled scale,” Lynch said in a statement to the organization.
The student echoed similar sentiments in a video recorded before the incident and shared on X after his arrest.
23,000 people gather to celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge (PICTURES)
“These stones have been standing here for 5,000 years. What will the world look like in 5000 years?” Lynch asked in the video.
Naidu also shared the statement.
“Either we will end the fossil fuel era or the fossil fuel era will end us. Just as fifty years ago, when the world used international treaties to mitigate the threat posed by nuclear weapons, today the world needs a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels and support dependent economies, workers and communities to move away from oil, gas and coal.”
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Naidu added, “The orange maize flour we used to create an eye-catching spectacle will soon be washed away by the rain”, while urging the government to “sign the contract”.
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Source: HIS Education