Indian-origin activist Rajan Naidu arrested after Stonehenge defacement in UK

London:

A 73-year-old Indian-origin activist was among two Just Stop Oil activists arrested by Wiltshire Police on Wednesday after spraying orange paint at the historic Stonehenge monument in southwest England.

Rajan Naidu from Birmingham said the orange cornmeal used to protest the use of fossil fuels was intended to create an eye-catching spectacle that will soon be washed away by rain.

He was joined by Niamh Lynch, a 21-year-old Oxford student, and they campaigned together against the continued use of coal, oil and gas. “Either we end the age of fossil fuels or the age of fossil fuels will end us,” Naidu said in a statement released by Just Stop Oil.

“Just as 50 years ago, when the world used international treaties to defuse the threats posed by nuclear weapons, today the world needs a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to phase out fossil fuels and help dependent economies, workers and communities move away from oil, gas and coal,” he said.

“The orange cornmeal we used to create an eye-catching spectacle will soon be washed away by the rain, but the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis will not go away. Sign the treaty “, did he declare. .

Environmental group Just Stop Oil said campaigners had “decorated” Stonehenge with orange powder paint to demand that the new UK government commit to working with other governments to agree a fair plan to end the extraction and combustion of oil, gas and coal by 2030. .

While British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”, opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer described the damage as “scandalous”.

“Around noon, we responded to a report that two suspects had sprayed orange paint on some stones. Officers responded to the scene and arrested two people suspected of damaging the ancient monument,” said Wiltshire Police in a statement. “Our investigations are ongoing and we are working closely with English Heritage,” the statement said.

English Heritage, the charity which oversees the monument, added: “Orange powder paint has been thrown on a number of stones at Stonehenge.

“This is obviously extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage. Further updates will follow, but the site remains open.” Stonehenge, a prehistoric megalithic structure located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, is a popular tourist site in England. Archaeologists believe it was built in several phases between 3,100 and 1,600 BC.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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