Wiltshire Police detained two Just Stop Oil protesters on Wednesday for pouring orange paint on Stonehenge, including a 73-year-old Indian campaigner. According to Birmingham resident Rajan Naidu, the orange corn flour used in their fossil fuel protest was supposed to create a stunning visual effect that would be washed away by rain.
Naidu and 21-year-old Oxford student Niamh Lynch campaigned against coal, oil, and gas. "Either we end the fossil fuel era, or it will end us," Naidu told Just Stop Oil.
He proposed a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels and help dependent economies, workers, and communities move away from oil, gas, and coal. "Our orange cornflour will wash away, but the climate and ecological problem requires immediate government response. He advised signing the deal.
Just Stop Oil said protestors "decorated" Stonehenge with orange powder paint to demand that the incoming UK government join with other nations to halt oil, gas, and coal extraction and burning by 2030.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak labeled it "disgraceful act of vandalism," while Opposition Labour Leader Keir Starmer called it "outrageous."
Wiltshire Police said, "Two suspects splashed orange paint on various stones around lunchtime. Police detained two people for destroying the old monument. We are in touch with English Heritage and doing inquiries."
English Heritage, the Stonehenge organization, said, "Several stones have been painted orange. This is heartbreaking, and our curators are assessing the damage. Site remains open."
Tourists visit Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a prehistoric building built in sections from 3100 BC to 1600 BC.
