THREE Just Stop Oil activists have been acquitted following a protest where orange powder was sprayed on Stonehenge.

Rajan Naidu, 74, Niamh Lynch, 23, and Luke Watson, 36, were cleared of all charges following a 10-day trial at Salisbury Crown Court.

Naidu and Lynch were accused of using two colour blasters filled with cornflour, talc and an orange dye to spray the ancient monument on June 19, 2024 – just days before around 15,000 people descended on Stonehenge for the summer solstice.

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The court was told how Watson had bought the equipment used in the protest and had driven his co-accused to Stonehenge.

The trio denied charges of damaging an ancient protected monument and causing a public nuisance after the stones were targeted as part of a fossil fuel protest.

All three accepted taking part in the protest and cited in their defence “reasonable excuse” and their rights under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.

A person tried to stop the Just Stop Oil activists carrying out the attack at Stonehenge. Pictures: JSO

They argued that it was a peaceful protest, and that no last damage was caused to the stones. The powder was cleaned off the stones at a cost of £620.

Speaking after the verdict, Rajan Naidu, an activist for social justice and environmental protection from Birmingham said: “The judicial system must wake up and begin to play its shamefully neglected role in defending us and other species from rapacious billionaire class climate criminals – the ruthless corporations that extract vast profits and other benefits as they trash and pollute with impunity; industries and businesses that destabilise and devastate entire environments and now threaten our beautiful planet’s biosphere, our one and only life support system.

“Life and survival before greed and profit! We need a global Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty right now.”

Niamh Lynch, a Masters student in Ecology and Conservation from Bedford said: “I refuse to accept that it has to be this way, that billions of living beings should be needlessly suffering and dying, to make a few rich people richer.

“I just want things to be better, I just want things to be fair and right. If you see something you love being hurt, you do everything you can to help. It’s quite simple. It’s totally natural.

“I might not be able to do much but I categorically refuse to do nothing. I refuse to stand by and watch as our world burns around us.”

Luke Watson, 36, a carpenter from London said: “I’m glad of the verdict but feel the last two weeks have been a complete waste of public money and that a case involving £620 of damage should have been dealt with in the magistrates court.”

Read the full press release from Just Stop Oil here.