A 73-year-old Indian-origin activist is among two Just Stop Oil activists arrested by Wiltshire Police on Wednesday after they sprayed orange paint on the Stonehenge historical landmark in south-west England.

Rajan Naidu from Birmingham said the orange cornflour used in protest against the use of fossil fuels was to create an eye-catching spectacle that will soon wash away with the rain.

He was joined by a 21-year-old student from Oxford, Niamh Lynch, and together they were campaigning against the continued use of coal, oil and gas. “Either we end the fossil fuel era, or the fossil fuel era will end us," said Naidu in a statement released by Just Stop Oil.

"Just as 50 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,” he said.

“The orange cornflour we used to create an eye-catching spectacle will soon wash away with the rain, but the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis will not. Sign the treaty,” he said.

The Just Stop Oil environmental group said the campaigners had “decorated” Stonehenge in orange powder paint to demand that the incoming UK government commit to working with other governments to agree an equitable plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.

While British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”, Opposition Labour Leader Keir Starmer said the damage was "outrageous".

“At around noon, we responded to a report that orange paint had been sprayed on some of the stones by two suspects. Officers attended the scene and arrested two people on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument,” Wiltshire Police said in a statement. “Our enquiries are ongoing, and we are working closely with English Heritage,” the statement noted.

English Heritage, the charity that oversees the landmark, added: “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. More updates to follow, but the site remains open.” Stonehenge, a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, is a popular tourist site in England. Archaeologists believe it was constructed in several phases from around 3100 BC to 1600 BC.

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