A wreath of plants from Charles Darwin's garden lie on his grave on the 200th anniversary of his birth at Westminster Abbey on February 12, 2009 in London. The Helleborus and Berberis Darwinii (discovered in South America in 1885 by Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle) placed on the grave of Darwin in the Abbey are taken from the garden of Down House in Kent - where he researched and wrote 'On The Origin of Species' published in 1859. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) 
Two activists entered Westminster Abbey - Britain's site for royal weddings, coronations, burials and a major tourist attraction - on Monday morning and used spray chalk on Darwin's grave, the campaign group said in a statement.
The activists wrote "1.5 is dead" in orange over the surface of the white marble gravestone - a reference to recent news that global temperatures in 2024 had exceeded 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time.
"We have passed the 1.5 degree threshold that was supposed to keep us safe," one of the activists said. "Darwin would be turning in his grave to know we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction."
Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection, died in 1882. He is buried in Westminster Abbey's Scientists' Corner, where Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking are also buried.
The church did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Just Stop Oil activists have staged a number of high-profile protests in Britain including by disrupting sports and theatre events, painting over the US embassy building in London and throwing soup at Van Gogh paintings.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by Sarah Young)