Two Simply Cease Oil protesters who spraypainted Stonehenge with oranged paint right this moment have been revealed to be a bird-watching Oxford geography pupil and an aged social justice campaigner and Quaker.
Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 21, ran as much as the stone circle at round 12pm on Wednesday and launched clouds of paint in opposition to a number of of the large stones simply 24 hours earlier than 1000’s flock to the landmark to have a good time summer season solstice.
Ms Lynch, a pupil on the College of Oxford, is a youth consultant on the British Belief for Ornithology – the examine of birds – and an officer at Oxford College’s Nature Conservation Society.
She can be the occasions group chief at Oxford Local weather Society and a eager cricketer.
Her fellow protester Mr Naidu, from Birmingham, is known to be a Quaker who has beforehand been jailed for his function in local weather protests.
Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 21, ran as much as the stone circle at round 12pm on Wednesday
The pair (pictured) have now been arrested by police on suspicion of damaging the monument
The ‘social justice campaigner’ was sentenced to 34 days in jail for his half in an indication at Kingsbury Oil Terminal in north Warwickshire.
By attending the motion, Mr Naidu was amongst a bunch of activists who all broke an injunction.
Video footage posted on social media confirmed two individuals carrying white shirts with the slogan Simply Cease Oil, approaching the monoliths with canisters spraying orange powder paint.
A number of of the enduring stones – relationship again to the late Neolithic interval – had been seen coated in orange paint earlier than one protester sat on the grass and the opposite was detained by a member of the general public.
As cops led the pair away, one man may very well be heard shouting: ‘You soiled scum. It is a temple, not a publicity stunt!’
Ms Lynch stated: ‘Stonehenge at solstice is all about celebrating the pure world – however have a look at the state it is in! All of us have a proper to stay a life free from struggling, however continued burning of oil, coal and fuel is resulting in dying and struggling on an unparalleled scale.’
‘It is time for us to consider what our civilization will go away behind – what’s our legacy?
‘Standing inert for generations works effectively for stones – not local weather coverage.’
Niamh Lynch is a geography pupil on the College of Oxford and has pursuits in birds and cricket
One girl was seen desperately making an attempt to tug the protesters away in the course of the incident
Different members of the general public later tried to assist the ladies wrestle the canister off the protesters
A number of stones had been coated within the substance earlier than the protesters stopped and sat cross legged on the grass
Members of the general public had been seen making an attempt to forestall the protesters by dragging them away
Simply Cease Oil protesters have sprayed Stonehenge with orange paint of their newest stunt
Mr Naidu added: ‘Both we finish the fossil gasoline period, or the fossil gasoline period will finish us. Simply as fifty years in the past, when the world used worldwide treaties to defuse the threats posed by nuclear weapons, right this moment the world wants a Fossil Gasoline Non-Proliferation Treaty to part out fossil fuels and to assist dependent economies, staff and communities to maneuver away from oil, fuel and coal.
‘The orange cornflour we used to create an attention grabbing spectacle will quickly wash away with the rain, however the pressing want for efficient authorities motion to mitigate the catastrophic penalties of the local weather and ecological disaster won’t. Signal the treaty!’
The prime minister described the spraying of orange paint on Stonehenge as ‘a disgraceful act of vandalism’ as two individuals had been arrested on suspicion of damaging the monument.
A spokeswoman for English Heritage described the spraying of paint on the Stonehenge stones as ‘extraordinarily upsetting’.
She stated: ‘Orange powdered paint has been thrown at various the stones at Stonehenge.
Rajan Naidu (left) was one in every of round 50 individuals who had been arrested after Simply Cease Oil activists protested outdoors an oil terminal on September 14, 2022
The group blocked the doorway to the Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire in breach of a Excessive Courtroom injunction
‘Clearly, that is extraordinarily upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the harm. Stonehenge stays open to the general public.’
A Simply Cease Oil spokesperson stated: ‘The UK’s authorities in ready has dedicated to enacting Simply Cease Oil’s unique demand of ‘no new oil and fuel’.
‘Nonetheless, everyone knows this isn’t sufficient. Persevering with to burn coal, oil and fuel will outcome within the dying of thousands and thousands.
‘Now we have to return collectively to defend humanity or we danger every thing. That is why Simply Cease Oil is demanding that our subsequent authorities signal as much as a legally binding treaty to part out fossil fuels by 2030.
‘Failure to decide to defending our communities will imply Simply Cease Oil supporters, together with residents from Austria, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland will take part resistance this summer season, if their very own Governments don’t take significant motion.
‘Stone circles may be present in each a part of Europe displaying how we have at all times cooperated throughout huge distances – we’re constructing on that legacy.’
Wiltshire Police stated officers had attended the scene and arrested two individuals.
A spokesman added: ‘At round midday, we responded to a report that orange paint had been sprayed on a number of the stones by two suspects.
‘Officers attended the scene and arrested two individuals on suspicion of damaging the traditional monument.
‘Our inquiries are ongoing, and we’re working intently with English Heritage.’
