Police charge 2 Just Stop Oil activists for targeting Stonehenge

Posted by
Check your BMI

Two Just Stop Oil activists were charged Thursday in connection with the spraying of orange powder on iconic English monument Stonehenge. 

Rajan Nadie, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 20, were charged with “destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument, and intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance,” Wiltshire police said in a statement

The two will appear at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on Dec. 13 for a first hearing. 

In June, the two activists rushed the historic site in England with fire extinguishers loaded with orange-dyed corn flour. The campaigners sprayed several of the stone towers before they sat cross-legged in matching “Just Stop Oil” T-shirts at the monument’s base.

English Heritage, a charity that oversees many of England’s historic sites, confirmed there was no visible damage to the site at the time but said the clean-up process could jeopardize the stone. 

The incident was claimed by Just Stop Oil, a hardcore environmental group that demands the U.K. government end the use of fossil fuels by 2030. 

The Stonehenge incident follows a series of demonstrations by Just Stop Oil, including the throwing of soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in 2022. The two responsible activists were sentenced to two years and 20 months in prison respectively.