UK police charge two people after June vandalism at Stonehenge

LONDON (AFP): UK police announced Thursday two people had been charged after orange paint powder was thrown on the megalithic standing stones at Stonehenge during a Just Stop Oil protest.

Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 22, face charges of destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument and intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance, following the June incident, Wiltshire Police said.

They are due to appear at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court, in southwest England, on December 13.

Footage posted on social media at the time showed two people spraying an orange substance on a cluster of the stones at the prehistoric UNESCO world heritage site.

The Just Stop Oil protest group said its activists had staged a protest there to demand that the UK government legally commit to phasing out fossil fuels by 2030.

Formed in 2022, the group has staged numerous climate-related demonstrations, primarily aimed at disrupting events, institutions or aspects of daily life.

English Heritage, the public body which manages Stonehenge, said it had quickly removed the orange powder from the stones and that there was no visible damage.

But its chief executive, Nick Merriman, noted that having to clean the stones may have harmed them, while the vandalism had caused distress “to those for whom Stonehenge holds a spiritual significance.”