Environmentalists attack a suitcase containing a copy of the Magna Carta in London, but the document remains intact

FILE – Members of the media film four of the original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts compiled by the British Library for the first time during a media preview in London on Monday, February 2, 2015. Two environmental activists attacked a glass display case containing an original copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library, causing minor damage to the reinforced box but leaving the historic document intact, on Friday 10 May 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

LONDON (AP) — Two environmental activists attacked a display case containing an original copy of Magna Carta at the British Library on Friday, slightly damaging the reinforced box but leaving the historic document intact.

The pair of protesters from Just Stop Oil, a group that has caused widespread unrest in Britain with its campaign to end global dependence on fossil fuels, attacked the case with hammer and chisel.

The Rev. Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher, released a statement saying they aimed for the document to draw attention to the dangers of climate change.

“Magna Carta is rightly revered as it is deeply important to our history, our freedoms and our laws,” Parfitt said. “But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights if we allow climate change to become the catastrophe that now threatens.”

According to the London Metropolitan Police, two people were arrested.

The library’s security team intervened to prevent further damage in the case of the Magna Carta, considered one of the founding documents of Western democracy.

The Treasures Gallery is temporarily closed until further notice, the library said.