Stonehenge not visibly damaged by protest paint

LONDON

Stonehenge monuments that have stood for thousands of years appear unscathed after climate protesters were arrested for spraying orange paint on them, an official said Thursday.

Workers cleaned the stones and the roughly 4,500-year-old monument was visibly undamaged, said Nick Merriman, the chief executive of English Heritage.

“It’s difficult to understand and we’re deeply saddened,” Merriman told BBC Radio 4. “It’s vandalism to one of the world’s most celebrated ancient monuments."

A 73-year-old man and 21-year-old woman were released on bail on June 20 after being arrested a day earlier on suspicion of criminal damage, damaging an ancient monument and deterring a person from engaging in a lawful activity.

The climate change activism group Just Stop Oil took responsibility for the act on June 19 and released video showing a man it identified as Rajan Naidu blast a fog of orange from a fire extinguisher at one of the vertical stones.

People gathered at the site could be heard yelling “stop” and one person intervened, running up to Naidu and grabbing his arm. As the person struggled to pull him away from the monument, another man joined the tussle and wrestled the paint can free.

The second protester, identified as Niamh Lynch, 21, managed to spray three stones before she was stopped.

Just Stop Oil said the paint was made of cornstarch and would dissolve in the rain.

Merriman said experts cleaned the orange powder from the stones because they were concerned about how it might react to water.