Elderly JSO protesters charged after Magna Carta incident
Two elderly protesters have been charged with criminal damage after attacking the glass encasing the Magna Carta during a Just Stop Oil stunt.
The Rev Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, a priest from Bristol, and Judith Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher from Swansea, were arrested on Friday morning following the incident at the British Library in London, the Met Police said.
The activists cracked the toughened glass casing around the historic document with a hammer and chisel and then held up a sign reading: “The Government is breaking the law.”
The pair then glued themselves to the display and demanded an emergency plan to stop oil by 2030.
A statement from the British Library said its security team “intervened to prevent further damage to the case, which was minimal” and “the Magna Carta itself remains undamaged”.
The gallery that houses the display is closed until further notice, it added.
The library holds two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, alongside Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.
Issued in June 1215, the Magna Carta was the first written document stating the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. It aimed to prevent the monarch from exploiting his power and placed limits on royal authority by establishing law as its own power.
During the protest, Dr Parfitt said: “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.
“We must get things in proportion. The abundance of life on earth, the climate stability that allows civilization to continue is what must be revered and protected above all else, even above our most precious artefacts.”
Ms Bruce added: “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’. We haven’t! We must get off our addiction to oil and gas by 2030 – starting now.”
The pair were released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on June 20.
