{"id":172769,"date":"2024-06-27T17:30:24","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T17:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=172769"},"modified":"2024-06-27T17:30:24","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T17:30:24","slug":"stonehenge-vandalised-by-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/stonehenge-vandalised-by-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Stonehenge Vandalised by Just Stop Oil Protesters Using Orange Powder Paint"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed orange powder paint on Stonehenge, disrupting preparations for the Summer Solstice.<\/p>\n<p>They demand the end of fossil fuel use by 2030, and police have since arrested the protesters.<\/p>\n           <!--  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n                jQuery(document).ready(function() {\r\n                    jQuery(\".key-accordion-item .key-menu\").on(\"click\", function() {\r\n                        if (jQuery(this).parent().hasClass(\"active\")) {\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                        } else {\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-content\").slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-accordion-item\").removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().addClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideDown();\r\n                        }\r\n                    });\r\n                })\r\n            <\/script> -->\r\n\r\n\r\n            <!-- start html -->\r\n\r\n            <div class=\"news-key-takeaway-wapper\">\r\n                                <span style=\"background-color:#4db2ee;\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n                <ul class=\"news-key-nbox\" style=\"border-color:#4db2ee;background-color:rgba(77, 178, 238, 0.1);\">\r\n                                                        <li>Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed orange powder paint on Stonehenge, leading to arrests and public outrage.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The protesters want the UK government to stop using oil, gas, and coal by 2030 to prevent environmental damage.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>This incident sparked strong reactions from leaders, heritage organizations, and the public.<\/li>\r\n                                                <\/ul>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            \n<h2>Stonehenge Vandalized With Orange Powder<\/h2>\n<p>On a recent Wednesday around noon, the environmental group Just Stop Oil <a href=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/art-vandalism-across-history-infamous-acts-their-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vandalized<\/a> the historic Stonehenge monument near Salisbury, Wiltshire<b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Two activists, <b>Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old student from Oxford, and Rajan Naidu, a 73-year-old from Birmingham<\/b>, sprayed orange powder paint on the stones.<\/p>\n<p>This act was meant to draw attention to their demand that the UK government end the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030.<\/p>\n<h2>Vandalism Details and Immediate Consequences<\/h2>\n<p>At approximately 12:00 BST, two Just Stop Oil campaigners approached Stonehenge armed with <b>orange powder paint and sprayed the substance on the ancient stones<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred just a day before the Summer Solstice celebrations at the 5,000-year-old site when the monument received heightened attention and numerous visitors.<\/p>\n<p><b>Wiltshire Police quickly arrested Lynch and Naidu<\/b> on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument.<\/p>\n<p>According to Just Stop Oil, the orange powder was cornflour, which they claimed would &#8220;<i>wash away with rain<\/i>.&#8221; However, this did not mitigate the strong reactions from various quarters.<\/p>\n<h2>Public and Official Reactions to the Vandalism<\/h2>\n<p>Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident, calling it a <b>\u201c<\/b><b><i>disgraceful act of vandalism.<\/i><\/b><b>\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer labeled the damage<b> &#8220;<\/b><b><i>outrageous<\/i><\/b><b>&#8221; <\/b>and described the protesters as <b>&#8220;<\/b><b><i>pathetic<\/i><\/b><b>.&#8221;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Members of the public who witnessed the event shouted &#8220;<i>no<\/i>&#8221; and tried to intervene as the activists ran towards the stone circle.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Merriman, chief executive of English Heritage, expressed deep sadness over the vandalism. He said that <b>Stonehenge represents a connection to nature<\/b> and stressed the importance of channeling activism away from museum sites.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Clifton, a BBC correspondent, reported that the stones closest to the public path were &#8220;<i>splattered<\/i>&#8221; with the powder, leaving tourists &#8220;<i>slightly bemused.<\/i>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mike Pitts, an archaeologist, voiced concerns about the potential damage to the monument. He said the stones are <b>sensitive and covered in prehistoric markings yet to be fully studied<\/b>, which are all at risk from such actions.<\/p>\n<h2>Protesters&#8217; Reasons for Vandalizing Stonehenge<\/h2>\n<p>Just Stop Oil&#8217;s actions were driven by a desire to pressure the next UK government to<b> end fossil fuel extraction and use by 2030.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The group argued that burning <a href=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/special-interest\/green-transition-how-fossil-fuel-free-steel-production-could-revitalize-pennsylvanias-rust-belt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fossil fuels<\/a> leads to severe consequences, claiming <b>it would lead to the deaths of millions<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Their spokesperson stressed the <b>urgency of uniting to defend humanity <\/b>against the looming climate crisis.<\/p>\n<p>In their statement, Lynch and Naidu explained their reasons for targeting Stonehenge. Lynch stated, &#8220;<i>Stonehenge at the solstice is all about celebrating the natural world \u2013 but look at the state it\u2019s in.<\/i>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Naidu added that the orange cornflour was intended to create an <b>eye-catching spectacle<\/b> that would soon wash away, minimizing long-term damage.<\/p>\n<h2>Cleanup Efforts and Ongoing Investigation<\/h2>\n<p>As confirmed by Nick Merriman, the orange powder was eventually <b>removed using blown air, a method that preserved the rare lichen on the stones<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>However, experts still need to inspect the stones to ensure no lasting damage occurred.<\/p>\n<p><b>Wiltshire Police are continuing their investigations<\/b> and working closely with English Heritage.<\/p>\n<p>They confirmed that their inquiries are ongoing to address the full impact of the incident and prevent future occurrences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10028,"featured_media":172771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,3588],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}