After dyeing Stonehenge in bright orange last June, three climate activists with Just Stop oil have been found not guilty of criminal damage.
On Friday, October 31, a Salisbury crown court jury acquitted Luke Watson, Rajan Naidu, and Niamh Lynch. “Life and survival before greed and profit! We need a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty right now,” Naidu said following the jury’s decision, according to the Art Newspaper.
Watson was charged with one count of aiding, abetting, and counseling and/or procuring, destroying, or damaging an ancient protected monument. Naidu and Lynch were each charged with destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument, and causing public nuisance.
At the trial, the defendants said they had the right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They also pointed out that there was no lasting damage done to the stones.
“This was an important decision for the issues about the right to protest, the right to freedom of speech compared to the right of a world heritage site to sit unmolested by members of the public. It’s a difficult one to gauge,” Judge Paul Dugdale said in his summation.
“Thankfully, there appears to be no visible damage but that’s in no way saying there hasn’t been harm, from the very act of having to clean the stones to the distress caused to those for whom Stonehenge holds a spiritual significance,” English Heritage chief executive Nick Merriman told CNN in a statement.
In June 2024, the activists targeted the prehistoric structure, covering some of its stones in a mixture of cornflour, talcum powder, and orange dye. The action was intended as call for the UK’s next government to sign, as the organization said in a statement, a “legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”
“Either we end the fossil fuel era, or the fossil fuel era will end us,” Naidu said at the time. “Just as fifty 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 to support dependent economies, workers and communities to move away from oil, gas and coal.”
The cost of removing the substance from the stones’ surface was £620 ($815).
