A Somerset woman is among two who have been charged with criminal damage after chalk paint was sprayed on Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey.
The words “1.5 is dead” were written in orange on the 19th century biologist’s grave on Monday, referring to attempts to limit global warming to 1.5C and reduce the impact of climate change.
Environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil said Alyson Lee, 66, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, and Di Bligh, a 77-year-old former chief executive of Reading Council from Frome in Somerset, were at the Abbey on Monday.
They have both been charged with criminal damage and bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on separate dates next month – Lee on February 11 and Bligh on February 12.
A spokesperson for the church said they do not anticipate there will be any permanent damage caused by the protest.
The incident took place at Westminster Abbey on Monday (Just Stop Oil/PA)
(Image: PA Media)
On Monday, Lee told the PA news agency: “We are trying to get the Government to act on climate change. They are not doing enough.”
Bligh added: “We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really.
“We’ve done it on Darwin’s grave specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now.”
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