Also…
Yes, by bringing it to the larger attention of the MEDIA who actually sought to be fair and balanced in their coverage… but as the stats the_borderer posted illustrate, bringing it to public attention also meant a shit load of hate for the activists. The Civil Rights activists employed non-violent tactics (in part to garner public sympathy) but that backfired when it came to most white Americans AND did not mean that all activists were non-violent or that the reaction was non-violent. Let’s not forget that John Lewis had his skull cracked open by the police (among many others on Bloody sunday) and quite a few activists were killed for their non-violent work.
And again, while this constitutes vandalism, these protests are pretty much non-violent. Unless you care more about stuff than people (you know, the millions of climate refugees, for example, or the people who are dying thanks to heat related deaths, etc, etc) and are upset because stuff has been vandalized. 
Everyone with a brain cell knows we’ve got to drastically reduce fossil fuels as quickly as we can, else the climate will collapse, followed by dire consequences including war, starvation and epidemics. Some of this is already happening.
But there’s a fairly small number of extremely rich and powerful people who stand not to make billions more $ of profits if we Just Stop Oil.
By amazing coincidence, all sorts of harmless protest actions in the UK, such as walking slowly, or holding up a white sheet of paper, have become criminal acts warranting 10 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
Pretty soon no-one will be able to see Stonehenge without a £12.50 ticket because the government has decided against everyone’s advice and wishes to spend 100s of millions of £ on a tunnel constructed by companies which donate large sums to Conservative party funds. All to save a few minutes delay on a road which has multiple other bottlenecks where you get delayed for a few minutes.
I’m not cynical.
The stones have been there for millennia. No-one knows what colour they were originally painted.
If only we could analyse them for paint traces. We can’t with current technology, but maybe in the future.
Well, the ones that weren’t vandalised.
While I understand and support their stated goals, I have to wonder if Just Stop Oil is funded by Exxon and BP. Yes, demonstrations are supposed to be inconvenient and eye-catching, but all they are succeeding at is getting everyone pissed off at themselves and discrediting the whole idea of petroleum independence.
Protest most certainly has been held at Oil HQ and Bank HO in the UK. The spraying of powder will not damage the stones and if it does mar the surface it will likely wash away in the next time it rains in a day or two, it is summer soon in the UK and one can expect rain.
The solstice sunrise makes the stones glow orange. Sort of.
If the paint remains, it might be hard to tell the astronomical from the human
Druid, Where’s My Car?
I don’t care that things are being vandalized. I’m just not convinced it’s up tactic that works. Or I guess I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work maybe?
As others said, I believe this group has protested at corporate headquarters. But they get more press when they do this or splash a painting with paint (protected by glass).
I dunno, I just don’t know how effective this type of protest is. It gets attention, but is that translating to action?
The problem is we live in countries where the most enormous public protest movements do nothing to change government actions. Look at the amount of marching and sitting in (occupations) opposing the war in Gaza which Americans and Brits have been doing for months. No effect on government except to make them tighten up anti-protest laws even further.
I guess the question then is: is there something else that they could deface that would still get attention but isn’t an irreplaceable and priceless piece of heritage for all of humanity?
Like maybe monuments to consumerism in Piccadilly Circus or Time’s Square? There are a lot of well-known landmarks that are not irreplaceable.
I’m not against throwing paint at shit, but it’s almost as though they are saying that art and history won’t matter because we’re all going to die anyway, but then why protest at all? If their protests work and humanity is saved, then our cultural heritage will still matter.
It’s not a choice between saving humanity or saving human cultural heritage; those things aren’t at odds with each other. And our cultural heritage is worth saving too.
What I got from the news was that the orange paint is mostly custard powder that will likely wash off with the rain. If that’s not entirely true, I don’t think they got much orange on the stones in the first place and weathering over some time will likely erode any of the more resistant orange spots. Anyone can just get madder about the whole thing if I’m wrong about that.
Me, I think climate change is a thing and we need to do something about it. I don’t agree with Just Stop Oil’s shitty tactics. I have to wonder who’s on board with them other than their own supporting members.
If the government is also a problem, Great Britain is heading into an election and there’s a good chance a government on the side of science and the environment will get voted in. One could just help ensure they do and then continue to pressure that government to do more.
Or you can focus on getting mad at Big Oil for milking profits for as long as they still can and putting money into disingenuous advertising campaigns and into politicians willing to look the other way. It’s a systemic problem, I think, that’s bigger than shitty publicity stunts. Shitting on public monuments or artwork, or whatever, has got to be a little desperate, as well as misdirecting most of the outrage. I’m not even sure they can sustain the outrage over the long term such a systemic problem needs to be addressed. Surely, Just Stop Oil can do better. Or they can just be mostly ignored, putting more focus on real change and better actors.
The most effective action we can take as individuals is to install local micro-generation like solar panels, use it to power a heat pump and an EV, and take public transport whenever practical. But these things cost a lot of money and are difficult to manage in the typical household.
Even so, I’m seeing a lot more rooftop solar going up around my area, and more EVs. It helps that it’s a posh area where there are plenty of people with the spare money to do these kind of advances.
Last Generation (or some similar group) did this to the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin, and it turns out the stuff seeps into the stone. Cleanup was not nearly as easy as claimed. I think there is still residue that cannot be removed without damaging the stone blocks or the masonry.
… should they be flogged if they refuse 
Looking at the pictures, it looks like the affected stones are part of the trilith ring. They are made from sarsen sandstone (as opposed to bluestone (in itself a somewhat diffuse catch all category for various ryoliths and dolerites).
I think the Stonehenge sarsen is a bit harder and hopefully not as porous as the Brandenburg Gate sandstone, but we will see.
But no one has to pretend or make up things about these fucking morons actually destroying things to justify hating them for it. In fact, you don’t even have to disagree with their general views to believe this is stupid, destructive behaviour.
Well, that entire site is getting damaged by the pollution from the 35,000-50,000 vehicles that travel on the section of the A303 that passes by the stones on a daily basis.
And the current plan to ‘improve’ the situation is to spend £1.7 BILLION digging a tunnel. Through a UNESCO world heritage site.
So whilst chucking orange-coloured cornflour (not paint) over the stones might seem a bit of an odd method of drawing attention to the situation it does seem to be somewhat effective given that we’re talking about it. And, you might argue, less dumb than the plan to turn the nearby road into a massive building site.
Yup. Car culture is destroying the site. I noticed it the one time I went there, by car, on the way to the eclipse in 2000.
This isn’t a fucking simulation. Use your outrage where it might do some fucking good.
I’m beyond bored at people whining about protests not being Goldilocks’s porridge.
