Environmental activists arrested for spraying orange paint on private jets at UK airport

A group of activists on Thursday (June 20) sprayed an orange-coloured substance on private jets parked at Stansted Airport in England.

The location of where the act was staged was verified with the help of the houses, pavement, and trees visible in the video posted by the environmental group Just Stop Oil on its official X handle.

The group in its post said that two activists 28-year-old Jennifer Kowalski and 22-year-old Cole Macdonald cut the fence into the UK airport and sprayed two private jets with the help of fire extinguishers filled with orange paint.

"Jennifer and Cole cut the fence into the private airfield at Stansted where @taylorswift13's jet is parked, demanding an emergency treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030," it said in a poston X.

"I'm 22 and I've just sprayed 2 private jets orange. We need an international treaty against the burning of all oil, coal and gas. While people are starving, the elite and the rich fly thousands and thousands of feet in the air above us all. Billionaires are not untouchable," Macdonald said in the video.

As per Just Stop Oil, this was the same private airfield where pop star Taylor Swift's jet had landed "mere hours earlier".

However, the police said that at the time of the incident, Swift's aircraft was not at the airport.

She has previously found herself in hot waters for her use of private planes. Swift is currently on tour in the United Kingdom.

The Essex Police said that they had arrested both Kowalski and Macdonald following the incident.

An Indian-origin man among two arrested for spraying an orange substance on UK's Stonehenge

The incident comes a day after British police arrested two people, including an Indian-origin man, for spraying an orange-coloured substance on Stonehenge in southwest England.

Following the incident, the Just Stop Oil protest group released a statement saying that two of its activists "decorated Stonehenge in orange powder paint" to demand that the United Kingdom's future government would legally vow to phase out fossil fuels by the year 2030.

The arrested Indian-origin man identified as 73-year-old Rajan Naidu is an environmental activist and a member of the Just Stop Oil group.

The group said that they had used "orange cornflour" to spray on the historic monuments and that it would wash away with the rain.

Both the acts come ahead of the UK's general elections set to take place on July 4.

'Disgraceful act of vandalism': UK PM Sunak

Prime Minister Rishi Sunakcondemnedthe incident calling it a "disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the UK's and the world's oldest and most important monuments".

"Just Stop Oil should be ashamed of their activists," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)