Two octogenarians from the environmental group Just Stop Oil were arrested on Friday for damaging the display case which protects a copy of the Magna Carta, the founding text of modern democracy, on display at the British Library in London.
A video broadcast by the group, accustomed to spectacular actions, shows the two ladies attacking the thick glass by hitting a chisel with a hammer.
London police said they had arrested two people “on suspicion of criminal damage”. “The damage caused concerns the protective display case and not the room itself,” said the Metropolitan Police.
The British Library holds two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, a 1215 text establishing that the king and his government are not above the law.
“This document deals with the rule of law, and opposition to the abuse of power. Our government is breaking its own laws,” Judy Bruce, 85, says in the Just Stop Oil video.
“I am a Christian and I am forced to do everything I can do to alleviate the terrible suffering that is happening and is already here,” continues the Reverend Sue Parfitt, 82 years old.
According to Just Stop Oil, which is campaigning for the government to establish a plan to end the use of fossil fuels by 2030, the two octogenarians then stuck their hands together.
Quoted in a press release, Judy Bruce said that “400 renowned scientists, contributors to the IPCC reports, say that we are ‘woefully unprepared’ for what is coming: 2.5°C or more of warming compared to pre-industrial levels”.
She was referring to a recent Guardian poll which found that almost 80% of responding scientists expect such warming, which exceeds the Paris Agreement target.
???? BREAKING: JUST STOP OIL BREAK MAGNA CARTA GLASS
???? Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, then glued their hands together, demanding an emergency plan to just stop oil by 2030.
✈️ Donate to help us take action at airports this summer — https://t.co/R20S8YQD1j pic.twitter.com/uYMsvULce2
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) May 10, 2024
The British Library announced without further details on X (formerly Twitter) the closure of the “treasure gallery” where the Magna Carta is exhibited. She posted a photo showing minor damage to the window.
The Magna Carta was signed on June 15, 1215 by the King of England John Lackland under pressure from rebel barons keen to limit royal arbitrariness.
It inspired numerous legal texts including the Petition for Rights of 1628, the Constitution of the United States of 1787 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.