Charles Darwin gravestone: Just Stop Oil supporters spray-paint ‘1.5 is dead’ on grave

The act, carried out with orange chalk paint on Monday morning, was intended to protest the government’s inaction on climate change following confirmation that last year was the first to exceed the critical global warming threshold of 1.5°C.

The activists, Alyson Lee, 66, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, and Di Bligh, 77, a former council chief executive from Rode, were detained by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of causing criminal damage. Ms Lee explained their motives to the PA news agency: “We are trying to get the Government to act on climate change. They are not doing enough.”

Ms. 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.”

A video shared by JSO on social media shows the pair kneeling at Darwin’s grave while spraying orange paint. One activist said: “We’ve already passed through the 1.5 degrees that was supposed to keep us safe. Millions are being displaced, California is on fire, and three-quarters of all wildlife has disappeared since the 1970s.”

The other said: “This is Darwin’s grave; he would be turning in his grave if he knew that we were in the midst of the sixth great extinction. Our Government plans will bring us to 3 degrees of warming, this will destroy everything we love.”

Westminster Abbey confirmed the chalk paint would not cause permanent damage and said the site remains open for visitors and worshippers. Meanwhile, JSO reiterated their call for immediate action to combat climate change, with a spokesperson saying: “Despite lots of fine words from international leaders, emissions are still rising. Without real action, words are useless – you cannot negotiate with the laws of physics.”