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Climate activists arrested after spray painting UK’s Stonehenge monument | Climate Crisis News
UK police say they arrested two folks ‘on suspicion of damaging’ the prehistoric monument, named a World Heritage Website by the United Nations Academic, Scientific and Cultural Group (UNESCO).
Two local weather protesters had been arrested for spraying orange paint on the traditional Stonehenge monument, a prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage Website in southern England, police have stated.
The act by Simply Cease Oil was shortly condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”. Labour chief Keir Starmer, his primary opponent within the election subsequent month, referred to as the group “pathetic” and stated the injury was “outrageous”.
The incident got here only a day earlier than hundreds are anticipated to collect on the 4,500-year-old stone circle to have a good time the summer time solstice – the longest day of the yr within the northern hemisphere.
English Heritage, which manages the location, stated it was “extraordinarily upsetting” and stated curators had been investigating the injury. Simply Cease Oil stated on the social media platform X that the paint was product of cornstarch and would dissolve within the rain.
🚨 BREAKING: Simply Cease Oil Spray Stonehenge Orange
🔥 2 folks took motion the day earlier than Summer season Solstice, demanding the incoming authorities signal as much as a legally binding treaty to part out fossil fuels by 2030.
🧯 Assist us take megalithic motion — https://t.co/R20S8YQD1j pic.twitter.com/ufzO8ZiDWu
— Simply Cease Oil (@JustStop_Oil) June 19, 2024
The Wiltshire Police stated the pair of protesters had been arrested on suspicion of damaging the monument.
“Officers attended the scene and arrested two folks on suspicion of damaging the traditional monument,” police stated. “Our inquiries are ongoing and we’re working carefully with English Heritage.”
Footage posted on social media confirmed activists, carrying “Simply Cease Oil” branded T-shirts, spraying a cluster of the megalithic standing stones with the orange substance from a small canister.
The group stated Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old scholar, and Rajan Naidu, 73, had used “orange cornflour” for the stunt.
Stonehenge was constructed on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in phases beginning 5,000 years in the past, with the distinctive stone circle erected within the late Neolithic interval about 2,500 BC.
Among the stones, the so-called bluestones, are identified to have come from southwest Wales, almost 240km (150 miles) away, however the origins of others stay a thriller.
Simply Cease Oil is certainly one of many teams round Europe which have gained consideration – and obtained criticism – for disrupting sporting occasions, splashing paint and meals on well-known artistic endeavors and interrupting visitors to attract consideration to the worldwide local weather disaster.
The group, shaped in 2022, stated it acted in response to the Labour Celebration’s current election manifesto. Labour has stated that if it wins the election on July 4, it will not problem additional licenses for oil and gasoline exploration. Simply Cease Oil backs the moratorium however stated it’s not sufficient.
In a press release, the group stated Labour, which is main in polls and extensively anticipated by pundits and politicians to steer the subsequent authorities, must go additional and signal a treaty to part out fossil fuels by 2030.
“Persevering with to burn coal, oil and gasoline will end result within the dying of hundreds of thousands,” the group stated in a press release.
“Failure to decide to defending our communities will imply Simply Cease Oil supporters… will take part resistance this summer time, if their very own governments don’t take significant motion.”
