Niamh Lynch discusses disruption and free speech after her acquittal
Niamh Lynch and Rajan Naidu sat in front of Stonehenge in protest
Just Stop Oil activist and Oxford University graduate, Niamh Lynch, has been cleared of charges after giving Stonehenge a new lick of colour.
Alongside Rajan Naidu and Luke Watson, Lynch sprayed Stonehenge with orange cornflour in protest of the climate crisis.
While there was no permanent damage to the stones, the cleaning cost amounted to £620; however, Niamh says this cost was set in context after explaining their act of protest.
Both the damage and public nuisance charges were acquitted under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.
Now studying her master’s degree at Exeter University in Falmouth, Lynch sits cross-legged and sincere, ready to talk openly about her experiences in court.
“When it happened, it was all a bit of a non-event,” she says, retelling the story of turning Stonehenge from grey to a bright, outraged orange. “You’re on the Salisbury Plain, surrounded by fields. People kind of wandered over and then carried on with their day,” she says. “It didn’t feel like a massive thing at all.”
During the arrest, her body kicked into survival mode. “I’d done enough preparation that I sort of knew what was gonna happen,” she says. However, no matter how prepared Niamh was for the arrest, nothing could have prepared her for the initial uncertainty of getting “dumped in a cell,” totally by herself.
Unable to look at a phone or receive any information, Niamh says, “For a minute you’re like oh my god, have I just ended up in a police cell and done this massive thing … what if no one knows?” Which, of course, for a protester trying to gauge maximum publicity and engagement, was the biggest risk at hand.
Her fear ceased when a police officer showed her the videos of Stonehenge on Twitter, receiving millions of views. She laughs about how it was probably the worst thing the police could have done in that moment, because it made her feel so much more confident in the cause.
“Being talked about and not being able to respond is bizarre,” she says, especially “having massive media outlets that can write whatever the hell they want about you and you can’t reply.”
She expresses frustration at the numerous articles that were inaccurate, with articles from The Sun calling the stones “desecrated” and the National Review describing the orange cornflour as “propellant-filled industrial dyes.” Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, even described Just Stop Oil as “pathetic” and said their actions were “outrageous.”
Despite the group’s controversy and association with causing disruption, Niamh chose Just Stop Oil as an organisation because she admired their “simple” solution to the climate crisis, which she would argue is barely a crisis, as the word implies an “unsolved crazy mystery or puzzle.”
She says, “We’re constantly told the climate crisis is complicated, but it’s absolutely not… The problem is fossil fuels!”
On 28 June 2022, section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSCA) introduced the statutory offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance.” The public nuisance charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, which Niamh believes is a critical threat to protest rights and freedom of speech.
She is concerned that this charge is being overused and that any protest could potentially fall under its definition. “You’re basically being charged with causing a bit of disruption. But that’s the point of protest! You need to disrupt in some capacity, because that’s how you get people to stop and think about things.” She explains.
In the last month, Niamh visited the Royal Courts of Justice for the judicial review of the proscription for Palestine Action. “What we’re seeing right now is a real polarisation between what is happening to climate activists and Palestine activists,” she says.
While climate activists are seeing some big successes, like her own acquittal, Niamh believes that “The situation for Palestine activists is getting significantly worse” with British police arresting over 2700 protesters since the ban against Palestine Action on 5th July 2025.
While Yvette Cooper, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, describes Palestine Action’s vandalism as “intimidatory and unacceptable,” Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International’s director of campaigns and communications, says that “The use of terrorism laws to circumvent due process and impose harsher punishments on direct action protesters is a threat to expression and assembly rights for everyone.”
Niamh agrees that the right to protest is extremely important, as it gives people a chance to express public opinion outside of general elections. She says, “A lot of things can go wrong between going to the ballot box at each general election, and protesting is how we express our opinions in that time. And if we can’t, then what sort of state are we living in?”