A pair of local weather protesters have been arrested Wednesday on the U.Okay.’s Stonehenge monument after they sprayed the 5,000-year-old rocks with orange paint, British police mentioned.
The protesters, 21-year-old Niamh Lynch and 73-year-old Rajan Naidu, are a part of Simply Cease Oil, a bunch that claims it needs the British authorities to “establish a legally binding treaty to stop extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030” alongside different nations.
With a nationwide election set for July 4, Simply Cease Oil is demanding that the incoming British authorities take motion to “phase out” fossil fuels inside a six-year interval.
The paint is allegedly cornstarch-based, and is meant to clean away within the rain, though the realm shouldn’t be anticipated to see rain earlier than the weekend.
The monument receives a swell of holiday makers every summer time solstice. This yr’s solstice is Thursday.
Lynch and Naidu have been stopped by involved bystanders, who took their canisters of paint, leaving them to sit down cross-legged in entrance of the monument.
“Our enquiries are ongoing, and we are working closely with English Heritage,” Wiltshire police mentioned in a press release, referring to the charity that manages historic websites across the U.Okay.
Simply Cease Oil issued a press release Wednesday acknowledging that the Labour Occasion has dedicated to stopping future oil and fuel drilling licenses in the event that they win.
“However, we all know this is not enough,” a spokesperson mentioned. “Continuing to burn coal, oil and gas will result in the death of millions. We have to come together to defend humanity or we risk everything.”
Lynch, a scholar from Oxford, mentioned in a press release: “Stonehenge at solstice is all about celebrating the natural world — but look at the state it’s in! We all have a right to live a life free from suffering, but continued burning of oil, coal and gas is leading to death and suffering on an unparalleled scale.”
Naidu, who’s from Birmingham, added: “Either we end the fossil fuel era, or the fossil fuel era will end us.”
