Senior JSO protesters charged after Magna Carta incident

Two elderly protesters have been charged with criminal damage after attacking the glass of the Magna Carta during a Just Stop Oil stunt.

The 82-year-old pastor Dr. Sue Parfitt, from Bristol, and 85-year-old Judith Bruce, a retired biology teacher from Swansea, were arrested on Friday morning after the incident at the British Library in London, the Met Police said.

Using a hammer and chisel, the activists smashed the toughened glass casing surrounding the historic document and then held up a sign that read: “The government is breaking the law.”

The two then stuck to the display and called for an emergency plan to stop the oil phase-out 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 in which the exhibition is housed is closed until further notice, it said.

The library houses two of the four surviving copies of Magna Carta, alongside Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.

Issued in June 1215, the Magna Carta was the first written document to establish the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. It aimed to prevent the monarch from exploiting his power and limited royal authority by establishing the law as his own power.

During the protest, Dr. Parfitt: “The Magna Carta is rightly revered because it is of great importance to our history, our freedoms and our laws.” But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights if we allow climate change to happen The catastrophe that is now threatening.

“We have to put things in perspective. Above all, the abundance of life on Earth and the climate stability that enables civilization to continue must be respected and protected, even from our most valuable artifacts.”

Ms Bruce added: “This week, 400 respected scientists – contributors to IPCC reports – say we are ‘woefully unprepared’ for what is coming: 2.5 degrees or more of warming above pre-industrial levels.”

“Instead of acting, our dysfunctional government is like the three monkeys: ‘See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing – act like we have 25 years.'” We haven’t! We must move away from our dependence on oil and gas by 2030 – now.”

The pair were released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 20.

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