The glass case containing an original copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library in London was smashed by two environmental campaigners on Friday, causing minor damage to the cardboard box but leaving the historic document unscathed.
The two protesters from Just Stop Oil, a group that has caused widespread disruption in Britain in its campaign to end the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, hit the issue with a hammer and chisel.
Video footage posted online The Reverend Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, an 85-year-old retired biology teacher, are shown holding a sign reading “The government is breaking the law”, before they are glued to the screen.
/AP
The pair issued a statement saying they targeted the document to highlight the dangers of climate change.
“The Magna Carta is highly respected because it is so important to our history, to our freedoms and our laws,” Parfit said. “But there will be no freedom, no legitimacy, and no rights if we allow climate breakdown to happen.” “The catastrophe that threatens us now.”
London Metropolitan Police said that two people had been arrested.
The library’s security team intervened to prevent further damage to the issue surrounding the Magna Carta, considered one of the founding documents of Western democracy.
The library said that the treasures exhibition is temporarily closed until further notice.
This was the latest public demonstration of vandalism towards famous works of art and history.
David Cantiniaux/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images
In January, two climate activists from the group Food Riposte threw soup into the glass protecting the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci was also targeted in 2022 when a man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair was attacked. Cream cake smeared on the plate.
In October 2023, five Just Stop Oil activists were arrested in London after they stormed the stage of a West End production of Les Misérables. Protesters took to the stage holding orange signs saying “The Show Cannot Go On” during the song “Do You Hear the People Singing.” They also locked part of the set using bicycle locks. The group also targeted Johannes Vermeer’s famous painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, Netherlands, in October 2022.
Also in 2022, two climate activists He threw the mashed potatoes In Claude Monet’s “Les Meules”, they then attached themselves to the bottom of the painting at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany. The painting was not damaged during the accident.
Alessandro Pinso/MAPS
Also last year, climate activists turned the water of Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain black Protests against the fossil fuel industry.
“Alcohol geek. Certified web scholar. Travel aficionado. Subtly charming twitter fanatic.”