Just Stop Oil: Protesters damage Magna Carta display case at British Library

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The Met Police say they have made two arrests after the incident.

Two Just Stop Oil protesters in their 80s have been arrested after damaging the glass display case protecting the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta - or ‘great charter’ - is a royal charter of rights penned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and signed by King John of England in 1215, considered to be the first document put into writing that the king and the government were not above the law. At around 10.40am on Friday (10 May), Just Stop Oil said two of its members entered the British Library, where the document is now housed, and attacked the glass case that protects the Magna Carta with a hammer and chisel.

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In a statement, Just Stop Oil named the activists as Reverend Sue Parfitt, 82, an active Anglican priest from Bristol, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher from Swansea. The pair damaged the case to demand that the UK government committed to an emergency plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030, the group said.

The two protesters damaged the glass case protecting the Magna Carta (Photo: Just Stop Oil/Supplied)The two protesters damaged the glass case protecting the Magna Carta (Photo: Just Stop Oil/Supplied)
The two protesters damaged the glass case protecting the Magna Carta (Photo: Just Stop Oil/Supplied)

After damaging the case, the two women then reportedly glued themselves to the enclosure - holding a sign which read: ‘The government is breaking the law’. Comments attributed to Ms Bruce said: “This week 400 respected scientists - contributors to IPCC reports - are saying we are woefully unprepared for what’s coming, 2.5 or more degrees of heating above pre industrial levels.

“Instead of acting, our dysfunctional government is like the three monkeys: see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing - pretend we’ve got 25 years,” she continued. “We haven’t. We must get off our addiction to oil and gas by 2030 - starting now.”

Reverend Sue Parfitt added: “The Magna Carta is rightly revered, being of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws. But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened.”

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The government needed to “get things in proportion”, she continued. “The abundance of life on earth, the climate stability that allows civilisation to continue is what must be revered and protected above all else, even above our most precious artefacts.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told PA that they were called to the British Library at 10.52am, to reports of Just Stop Oil activists trying to damage the Magna Carta. “Officers arrested two people on suspicion of criminal damage, both of which are currently in custody.

“The damage caused was to the protective case and not the exhibit itself,” the spokesperson confirmed.

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