Protesters Arrested for Spraying Orange Paint on Stonehenge

Also overseas, one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments is orange tonight, after climate protestors sprayed some paint on Stonehenge in southern England. Look at this here. Two people run up to it, so they’ve got these things or aerating paint or whatever onto them, spraying it there. Somebody else tries to stop them, kind of grabbing the arm, pulling them back. The whole thing’s happened in just a day before. Thousands of people are expected to gather at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. It’s part of a string of incidents where activists have defaced some other well-known historic things to bring attention to climate change like the Magna Carta, the Mona Lisa, remember that, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Daniele Hamamdjian is joining us now. So Danielle, what do we know about these protesters? And is this orange stuff reversible? Are these rocks going to be okay?

They’re going to be okay and they’re going to wash away, at least that’s what we’re told by the protesters. It’s hard not to gasp when you see those images of the protestors spraying this powder paint on the stones at Stonehenge. And you can see, as you mentioned, a few members of the public running towards them trying to tackle one of them. They’re from Just Stop Oil. As you know, we’re going through an election campaign here, their demand is for the next UK government to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030. I’m not going to give you or our viewers a history lesson here, but there’s a reason why Stonehenge is so remarkable. It’s a UNESCO heritage site. It’s one of the most recognizable landmarks here in the UK built 4,500 years ago. It’s in perfect alignment with the sun.

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We don’t know who built them, but we do know today who tried to damage them, a 21-year-old student from Oxford University, a 73-year-old man who was quoted as saying, “That the orange corn flour that was used to create this eye-catching spectacle will wash away with the rain, but not the climate crisis if the leaders don’t act.” We heard from the leaders today, Rishi Sunak, the UK Prime Minister calling this a “Disgraceful act of vandalism.” Keir Starmer, who is a leader of the opposition running to be the next prime minister, he said it was “Outrageous, and that Just Stop oil was ‘pathetic.'” As you mentioned, the site is still open, and tomorrow we’re going to see what we see every year around this time, thousands of people gathering for the summer solstice.

Lots to watch on that one. Daniele, thank you.

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