Two local weather activists have been arrested at Stonehenge in England after spraying orange paint on the well-known historic landmark.

The group Simply Cease Oil took credit score for the Wednesday motion, which they mentioned was a name on the UK to cease using fossil fuels by 2030.

“Persevering with to burn coal, oil and gasoline will outcome within the loss of life of tens of millions. We’ve got to come back collectively to defend humanity or we threat all the things,” Simply Cease Oil mentioned in a press launch.

The group mentioned the orange cornflour used on the monument would wash away within the rain.

It recognized the 2 activists accountable as College of Oxford scholar Niamh Lynch, 21, and Birmingham resident Rajan Naidu, 73.

The Wiltshire Police confirmed that officers arrested two folks on suspicion of damaging Stonehenge.

The motion came about simply in the future earlier than the summer time solstice — the longest day of the yr — when 1000’s of individuals are anticipated to descend upon the historic monument.

English Heritage, the group that manages Stonehenge, mentioned in a submit on X that the positioning stays open. It referred to as the incident “extraordinarily upsetting” and mentioned its curators have been assessing the extent of any harm.

In its press launch, Simply Cease Oil mentioned it wouldn’t be sufficient for the UK to cease any future oil and gasoline licenses, however fairly urged the federal government to signal a legally binding treaty barring it from extracting and burning oil, gasoline and coal by the yr 2030.

UK political leaders have been fast to sentence the demonstration.

In a submit on X, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned: “Simply Cease Oil are a shame.”

Labour chief Keir Starmer, who’s operating towards Sunak within the upcoming election, saidthe harm accomplished to Stonehenge was “outrageous.” Starmer referred to as Simply Cease Oil “pathetic” and mentioned these chargeable for the motion “should face the total drive of the legislation.”

It’s the most recent public protest initiated by activists with Simply Cease Oil, whose members have additionally interrupted tennis matches at Wimbledon, disrupted the London delight parade and defacedclassic artworks.