Just Stop Oil said the motivation behind the incident was to demand the next UK government end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Environmental protesters sprayed Britain’s most famous prehistoric structure, Stonehenge, with orange powdered paint a day before huge crowds are expected to gather there for the summer solstice.
Part of Stonehenge has been covered in orange powder paint by protesters.
Two Just Stop Oil campaigners sprayed the powder paint on the historic site near Salisbury, Wiltshire, at about 12:00 BST on Wednesday.
The move comes the day before celebrations beginfor the Summer Solstice at the 5,000-year-old landmark.
Wiltshire Police confirmed two people had been arrested on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument.
Just stop oil said the orange powder paint was cornflour and it would “wash away with rain”.
The group named the two protesters as Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old student from Oxford, and Rajan Naidu, a 73-year-old from Birmingham, in a statement.
A video posted on X by Just Stop Oil shows two of the group’s activists spraying the landmark using fire extinguishers.
The action took place around 12 p.m. local time at the ancient site near Salisbury in the southwest of England, Wiltshire Police said in a statement. Police arrested the two protesters “on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument,” the statement said.
The official Stonehenge X account described the incident as “extremely upsetting.”
Orange powder paint sprayed on to part of Stonehenge by activists has been removed.
Two Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested, after spraying the historic site near Salisbury, Wiltshire, with cornflour at about 12:00 BST on Wednesday.
English Heritage chief executive, Dr Nick Merriman, said there appeared to be “no visible damage” to the 5,000-year-old landmark after experts cleaned the site.
Wiltshire Police said the two protesters were released on bail “to allow us additional time to work with specialists and progress our enquiries”.
They had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, damaging an ancient monument and deterring a person from engaging in a lawful activity.
English Heritage said the orange paint had been removed using a “specialist handheld blower”.
It told the BBC that if rain had come into contact with the powder, damage could have been significant.
So far, there seems to be no visible damage. The site is open to the public again and for the solstice tomorrow.”
Dr Merriman called the act “vandalism to one of the world’s most celebrated ancient monuments”.
He added: “We wish people would channel their protests away from cultural heritage sites, museums and galleries because we feel that doesn’t actually help their cause, and causes huge upset and disruption to the operation of these important sites.”
Culled from CNN