On Friday morning, two climate activists were arrested after they had smashed the protective glass barrier around the Magna Carta and then glued themselves to the cabinet, The Independent UK reports.
The incident occurred at the British Library in London where the historic 13th century British document, which guarantees English political liberties, is showcased.
The Just Stop Oil activists were captured on video hammering the glass barrier protecting the document.
The two suspects have been identified as 82-year-old Reverend Dr. Sue Parfitt, an Anglican priest from Bristol, and 85-year-old Judy Bruce, a retired biology teacher from Swansea.
Both were arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of criminal damage charges, said a spokesperson with Metropolitan Police.
“The damage caused was to the protective case and not the exhibit itself,” the spokesperson said.
As they were glued to the cabinet, Parfitt and Bruce were heard asking, "Is the government above the law?" while holding signs that said, "The government is breaking the law."
Just Stop Oil demands the UK government agree to an emergency plan that would stop the extraction and burning of coal, oil, and gas by the year 2030,
According to Just Stop Oil, the protest on Friday fell on the same day that the UK high court declared the government's climate policy unlawful for the second time.
The ruling was made because there is insufficient proof to support the existence of adequate policies aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
The UK must now create a new strategy within a year to meet its legally mandated carbon budgets and fulfill its commitment to reduce emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, according to Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho.
“Clause 39 of the Magna Carta is one of four clauses still enshrined in UK common law, a so-called ‘golden passage’, that states: ‘No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or in any other way ruined, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land,” a spokesperson with Just Stop Oil said.
“Contrast that with civil law as it stands in 2024, where corporations are buying private laws in the form of injunctions that circumvent the people’s rights to a trial by jury for speaking out against the crimes of oil companies,” they added.
