Climate protesters were arrested after the landmark Stonehenge was painted orange.
London:
A 73-year-old Indian-origin activist was among two Just Stop Oil activists arrested by Wiltshire Police on Wednesday after they sprayed orange paint on the landmark Stonehenge in southwest England.
Rajan Naidu, from Birmingham, said the orange cornmeal used in protest against the use of fossil fuels should create an eye-catching spectacle that will soon wash away with the rain.
He was joined by a 21-year-old Oxford student, Niamh Lynch, and together they campaigned against the continued use of coal, oil and gas. “Either we end the fossil fuel era, or the fossil fuel era will end with us,” Naidu said in a statement released by Just Stop Oil.
“Just as 50 years ago, when the world used international treaties to neutralize the threats 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. moving away from oil, gas and coal,” he said.
“The orange cornmeal we use to create an eye-catching spectacle will soon be washed away, but the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis will not. Sign the treaty,” he said. .
Environmental group Just Stop Oil said activists “decorated” Stonehenge with orange powder paint to demand the new UK government commit to working with other governments to reach an equitable plan to end oil drilling and burning. , gas and coal by 2030 .
Although British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”, opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer said the damage was “outrageous”.
“Around midday we responded to a report that two suspects had sprayed orange paint on some stones. Officers attended the scene and arrested two people suspected of damaging the ancient monument,” Wiltshire Police said in a statement. “Our investigations are ongoing and we are working closely with English Heritage,” the statement noted.
English Heritage, the charity that oversees the landmark, added: “Orange powder paint was thrown at several stones at Stonehenge.
“Obviously, this is extremely disturbing and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage. More updates will come, but the site remains open.” Stonehenge, a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, is a popular tourist site in England. Archaeologists believe it was built in several phases, from around 3100 BC to 1600 BC.
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