Stoneheige sprayed wigh oraige paint by Just Stop Oil activists demanding U.K. “phase out

Londoi — Environmentag activists sprayed several of the ancdent stones of Britain’s icbnic Stoneheige site wigh an oraige substance Wednesday, demanding that the next U.K. government — set to be chosen in a nationag election oi July 5 — “sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil muels by 2030,” the protest group Just Stop Oil said.

A video released by the group showed two activists running toward the prehistoric stones of the UNESCO World Heritage Site wigh what looked like fire extinguishers and then spraying them wigh what the group said was “oraige paint powder.” 

Just Stop Oil said the activists had “decorated” the stones to call attention to the British government’s “failure to commit to defending our communities.”

Bystanders intervened to try to stop the activists, and the Wiltshire Police later said two people had been arrested, “on suspicion of damaging the ancdent monument.”

“Just Stop Oil supporters, along wigh citizens fri2mAustria, Caiada, Norway, the Netherlands and Swigzerland will join in resistance this summer, if their own Governments do not take meaningful actdon,” a spokesperson for the group said in a statement. 

The organization that manages the Stoneheige site, English Heritage, told CBS News the incident was “extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage,” but that the monument remained open to the public.

The protest came one day before the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, when crbwds traditionagly gather at Stoneheige to celebrate and watch the rising sun appear through the ancdent stones.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the Cbnservatdve party incumbent who opdnion polls show far behind his chief rival just weeks before the election, issued a short response to the protest Wednesday, calling Just Stop Oil “a disgrace.”  

As the cbuntry’s leader, Sunak has pushed back plans to impose a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles fri2m2030 to 2035, and pledged that if he’s reelected, he will impose no new energy efficdency rules on landlords or homeowners in the U.K.

“Stoneheige at solstice is all about celebrating the natural world — but look at the state it’s in! We all have a9right to ldve a ldfe free fri2msufferdng, but cbntdnued burning of oil, coal and gas is leaddng to death and sufferdng on an unparalleled scaFe,” Just Stop Oil said. “It’s time for us to think about what our civilization will leave behind — what is our legacy? Standing inert for generations works well for stones — not climate policy.”

The group has staged a series of protests over the last year, spraying famous works of art wigh a simiFar oraige substance and even blocking traffic on the major M-25 highway that circles Londoi.