Eco clowns target the Magna Carta
Oil activists in their 80s take hammer to original copy... but can’t break the glass!
TWO eco-zealots were arrested yesterday after attacking one of only four surviving copies of the Magna Carta with a hammer and chisel in a ‘reckless’ stunt.
Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, and retired biology teacher Judy Bruce, 85, arrived at London’s British Library with the tools and tried to smash the glass protecting a copy of the 800-year-old document.
The Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists held up a sign accusing the Government of ‘breaking the law’ before glueing themselves to the display in front of horrified tourists.
Rev Parfitt declared: ‘The Magna Carta is rightly revered, being of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws.
‘But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened. The abundance of life on earth, the climate stability that allows civilisation to continue is what must be revered and protected above all else, even above our most precious artefacts.’
It is not the first time the pair have performed such a stunt. Last November, they interrupted a Thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral holding ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest posters.
And Rev Parfitt has twice ended up in court over her protests.
She was found guilty of obstruction of a highway at Bristol Magistrates’ Court after blocking a road leading to the Ministry of Defence’s Abbey Wood site in south-east London in 2020, though the conviction was
‘Puerile and performative’
quashed by an appeal court. She had also previously been acquitted by a jury for clambering on top of a train near Canary Wharf during rush hour.
Yesterday police confirmed two people had been taken into custody after being arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
The British Library added that the display case suffered ‘minimal’ damage and the document itself was not harmed.
Yesterday chairman of the Conservative Party Richard Holden condemned the latest stunt, saying: ‘This bizarre assault on our country’s history is the latest in a long line of reckless vandalism and destruction. It shows they are not interested in making a positive impact but in puerile performative politics.’
Policing minister Chris Philp added: ‘Eco-zealots have gone from being harmless hippies to committing reckless acts of criminal damage. The Magna Carta is symbolic of our rules-based system, which JSO and their friends clearly have contempt for.
‘We decide things in this country through peaceful debate, reasoned persuasion and democratic elections – not by vandalism or violence.’
It comes after two JSO members were yesterday found guilty of causing and attempting to cause criminal damage after throwing orange powder during the World Snooker Championships last year. And in October 2022, eco-zealots threw tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers at London’s National Gallery.
Last year it was estimated the group’s protests, including slowmarching demonstrations that ground London traffic to a halt, cost the Met almost £20million.