Two elderly environmental extremists have been accused of desecrating the grave of famous scientist Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey.
At around 10am on Monday, two members of the radical activist group Just Stop Oil, 66-year-old Alison Lee and 77-year-old Dee Vry, placed a message on Darwin's grave saying “1.5 is dead”. It is said that he began spray painting. The message is change In the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, world leaders pledged to prevent global temperatures from exceeding this threshold.
“We did this because there really is no hope in the world.”
“Ten years after the Paris Agreement, we have already surpassed the so-called safe temperature increase of 1.5 degrees and are on track for warming of 3 degrees or more. The result is millions of refugees, societal collapse, and the extinction of countless species,” Lee, a former teaching assistant, was quoted as saying. press release From JSO.
“Words are useless without real action. You cannot negotiate with the laws of physics. We need mass civil disobedience now. Take to the streets and call Congress this April.” Please help me get it back.”
Mr Bligh, a former chief executive of the Reading Council, spoke in a statement on behalf of Darwin, the British naturalist and biologist who died in 1882. “We did this because there really is no hope in the world,” Bligh said. According to guardian. “We did this in Darwin's grave because Darwin is going to be interred in that grave because the sixth mass extinction is happening right now.”
According to a CNN report, global temperatures briefly rose by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in 2024. JSO blamed recent natural disasters, such as the Los Angeles fires, on this temperature fluctuation.
2024 was the hottest year on record. The temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees, which should be safe. Millions of people have been evacuated, California has been devastated by fires, and three-quarters of all wildlife has been lost since the 1970s. [sic]. Darwin will visit his grave to find out that we are in the midst of the 6th mass extinction. The government's plan predicts a temperature rise of more than 3 degrees. This will destroy everything we love. World leaders must stop burning oil, gas and coal by 2030.
The Metropolitan Police said Lee and Bligh were immediately arrested on suspicion of causing “criminal damage to Westminster Abbey by using what appeared to be powdered paint.”
For almost 1,000 years, London's Westminster Abbey was one of Britain's most popular Christian churches and the center of British political glamor. At least 40 British monarchs have been coronated here, including Charles III. The Abbey is also the burial place of some of Britain's most famous figures, including Darwin, author Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and crowned figures such as Henry V, Elizabeth I, and Mary Queen of Scots.
A spokesperson for the monastery confirmed that activists used orange spray chalk during the Darwin Tomb incident. “The management of the monastery has taken immediate action to clean the monument and does not expect any permanent damage to be caused,” a spokesperson said.
“Police were called to the scene and dealt with the incident. The convent remains open for visitation and worship.”
Since its founding in 2022, Just Stop Oil has drawn attention to its cause by stopping traffic on busy corridors and vandalizing treasured treasures. Last June, a member of the JSO was accused of spray painting part of a giant rock at Stonehenge, and in September, two JSO activists were accused of pouring tomato soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting. A prison sentence was given.
Do you like Blaze News? Avoid censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. Please register here!
