Quaker on trial for Stonehenge action
Supporters of the Stonehenge JSO activists gathered at Salisbury Meeting House
Friends supporting the Stonehenge Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists gathered at Salisbury Meeting House last month.
The protestors were on trial for their controversial action of spraying orange cornstarch powder paint on Stonehenge last summer.
Rosalind Johnson, co-clerk of Salisbury Meeting, told the Friend: ‘On 13 December 2024, a group of people was present at Salisbury Magistrates Court to offer support to Just Stop Oil activists Niamh Lynch and [Quaker] Rajan Naidu, who were attending a first hearing relating to their action at Stonehenge in June. Salisbury Quakers offered the group hospitality at their Meeting house during the day, but were not involved in any action by the group…
‘I understand that some Quakers were part of this group, but, to be clear, Quakers from Salisbury were not among them,’ she added.
The action was to call for 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 witness was controversial, with some Friends supporting the action, and others denouncing it in letters to the Friend.
Luke Watson also appeared at the trial, charged with one count of ‘aiding and abetting destruction or damage to an ancient protected monument’, and one count of ‘aiding, abetting the causing of a public nuisance’.
JSO told the Friend that, at the December plea hearing, ‘all three pleaded not guilty and both the prosecution and defence agreed that the case should be heard in Crown Court because of the complexity of the scientific evidence and public interest in it. So they are now due for a case management hearing at Salisbury Crown Court on 29th January’.
