Two activists from the environmental organization Just Stop Oil were arrested on Wednesday for spraying paint on the monoliths of the famous English prehistoric site of Stonehenge, which is preparing to welcome thousands of visitors for the summer solstice.
A video circulating on social media shows two men rushing towards the massive stones forming a circle at this site in south-west England, spraying a cloud of orange powder in their direction with bombs, while people try to push them away.
Just Stop Oil, which calls for an end to the exploitation of fossil fuels by 2030, claimed responsibility for the action, strongly condemned by political leaders of all sides.
The group emphasized that they used powder paint. The latter “will soon leave with the rain but not the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis,” he explained on X.
In a statement, Wiltshire Police said they were alerted around 12:00 p.m. (7:00 a.m. in Montreal) of a spray of paint on the monoliths: “Officers went to the site and arrested two people suspected of damaging the monument.”
Just Stop Oil identified the arrested activists as Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old student from the university city of Oxford, and Rajan Naidu, 73, from Birmingham in England.
“It is time for us to reflect on what our civilization will leave behind: what is our legacy? », justified Niamh Lynch, quoted in a press release from Just Stop Oil. “Staying inert for generations works well for stones, but not for climate policy.”
Party animals and neo-druids
Built in stages between approximately 3,000 and 2,300 BC, Stonehenge is one of the most important prehistoric megalithic monuments in the world in terms of its size, sophisticated plan and architectural precision.
The famous ensemble is aligned with the axis of the sun during the summer and winter solstices.
Its stones erected in mysterious circles attract thousands of people every year on June 21 – curious people, sun worshipers and neo-druids – at sunrise for the pagan solstice festivals.
Stonehenge is the “most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world” according to UNESCO, which declared it a world heritage site in 1986.
The site remains open to the public, said the English Heritage association, which manages the monument and said it was “investigating to determine the extent of the damage”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced “a shameful act of vandalism against one of the oldest and most important monuments in the United Kingdom and the world”.
The outgoing conservative government is up against the punchy actions of Just Stop Oil, which, in recent times, has also vandalized works of art, disrupted sporting competitions or interrupted shows.
In May, two octogenarians damaged the display case protecting the Magna Carta, a 1215 text establishing that the king and his government are not above the law and considered the founder of modern democracy, exhibited at the British Library in London.
In recent years the government has tightened the law governing the right to demonstrate in an attempt to prevent these actions, without much success.
Labor leader Keir Starmer, favorite to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the next legislative elections on July 4, described Just Stop Oil as “pathetic”. This former director of the public prosecutor’s office felt that it was necessary to oppose him with “the full force of the law”.
Just Stop Oil welcomed the fact that Labor has committed, unlike the Conservatives, to no longer granting new oil and gas exploitation licenses in the United Kingdom, which has reserves particularly in the North Sea.
“However, we all know that this is not enough,” said the organization, calling on “the next government to sign a legally binding treaty aimed at phasing out fossil fuels by 2030.”