Stonehenge monument painted orange, climate protesters arrested

LONDON (AP) — Two climate protesters were arrested Wednesday for spraying orange paint on the ancient Stonehenge monument in southern England, police said.

Just Stop Oil’s latest action was immediately condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”.

The incident occurred just a day before thousands of people will gather at the 4,500-year-old stone circle to celebrate the summer solstice – the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

English Heritage, which manages the site, said it was “extremely concerning” and said curators were assessing the damage. Just Stop Oil said on social media platform X the paint was made from corn starch and would dissolve in rain.

Wiltshire Police said the couple had been arrested on suspicion of damaging one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Stonehenge was built gradually on the Salisbury Plain starting 5,000 years ago, with the unique stone circle being constructed in the late Neolithic period, around 2,500 BC. Some of the stones, known as bluestones, are proven to have come from southwest Wales, nearly 150 miles away, but the origin of others remains a mystery.

Just Stop Oil is one of many groups in Europe that have attracted attention – and faced heavy criticism – for disrupting sporting events, splattering famous works of art with paint and food, and disrupting traffic to raise awareness of global warming.

The group said it was acting in response to the Labour Party’s recent election manifesto. Labour has said that if it wins the July 4 election it will not issue any more oil and gas licences. Just Stop Oil supports the moratorium but says it is not enough.

In a statement, the group demanded that Labour, which is leading in the polls and is widely expected by experts and politicians to lead the government, go further and sign a deal to phase out fossil fuel use by 2030.

“The continued burning of coal, oil and gas will lead to the deaths of millions of people,” the group said in a statement.