“Is the government above the law?” asked two octogenarians from the environmental group Just Stop Oil. The day after their media stunt, the two women were charged on Saturday for having damaged the window protecting a copy of the Magna Carta, the founding text of modern democracy, on display at the British Library in London the day before.
A video broadcast by the group, accustomed to spectacular actions, shows the two ladies attacking the thick glass by hitting a chisel with a hammer. The two activists were quickly arrested. They were charged on Saturday with “criminal damage” and released on bail. They are due to appear in court in London on June 20.
The British Library holds two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, a 1215 text establishing that the king and his government are not above the law.
“This document deals with the rule of law, and opposition to the abuse of power. Our government is breaking its own laws,” Judy Bruce, 85, says in the Just Stop Oil video. “I am a Christian and I am forced to do everything I can to alleviate the terrible suffering that is happening and is already here,” continues the Reverend Sue Parfitt, 82 years old.
According to Just Stop Oil, which is campaigning for the government to establish a plan to end the use of fossil fuels by 2030, the two octogenarians then stuck their hands together.
The British Library said the two activists caused “minor damage” to the display, without damaging the Magna Carta. The “treasure gallery” where the Magna Carta is exhibited has been closed.
The Magna Carta was signed on June 15, 1215 by the King of England John Lackland under pressure from rebel barons keen to limit royal arbitrariness. It inspired numerous legal texts including the Petition for Rights of 1628, the Constitution of the United States of 1787 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.