An elderly priest and a retired teacher smashed a glass display case holding an original copy of the Magna Carta in a protest over British government inaction on climate change.
Rev. Dr. Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, walked into the Treasures Gallery at the British Library in London on Friday and pounded on the display case with a hammer and chisel, a video posted online by Just Stop Oil showed.
Parfitt — who is an Anglican priest and retired psychotherapist — and Bruce then held up a sign that read “The government is breaking the law” before gluing themselves to the display, the footage showed.
The two women appeared at the library to demand “the UK government commit to an emergency plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030,” a statement released by Just Stop Oil said.
“This famous document is about the rule of law and standing up against the abuse of power. Our government is breaking its own laws,” Bruce, a former biology teacher, told onlookers.
“I am a Christian, and I feel compelled to do all that I can to alleviate the appalling suffering that’s coming down the line and is here already,” Parfitt added.
“We must just stop oil!” the pair chanted together.
The two were arrested at the scene after library security intervened, CBS News reported, citing London’s Metropolitan Police.
The Treasures Gallery is now closed until further notice.
Just Stop Oil is an activist group behind several acts of protest in the UK — including a 2022 incident during which demonstrators unleashed spray paint at luxury car dealerships.
Last fall, five Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested for storming the stage of the West End production of Les Misérables.
“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,” Bruce said in a statement issued by the group after Friday’s debacle.
“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!” she insisted.
“We must get off our addiction to oil and gas by 2030 – starting now.”
