Environmental protesters spray ‘orange powder paint’ on Britain’s Stonehenge

LONDON — Environmental protesters sprayed an orange substance across part of Britain’s Stonehenge on Wednesday afternoon.

British environmental activist group Just Stop Oil posted video of the incident on X, the social media platform, showing two of its supporters spraying three of the stones within the prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in England’s Wiltshire county. Both people were subsequently arrested, according to the group, which also posted video of police taking the two campaigners into custody.

Just Stop Oil wrote in a post on X that the sprayed substance is “orange powder paint” and “is made of cornstarch, which will wash away in the rain.”

“But the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis will not,” the group added.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that the action at Stonehenge came as the group demands the British government commits “to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”

A spokesperson for English Heritage, the charity that cares for Stonehenge and hundreds of other historic sites in England, confirmed to ABC News that “orange powdered paint has been thrown at a number of the stones at Stonehenge.”

“Obviously, this is extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage,” the spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday. “Stonehenge remains open to the public.”