https://climatechangedispatch.com/just-stop-oil-activists-literally-hammer-magna-carta-exhibit-in-london/

Written by Oliver jj Lane on May 14, 2024. Posted in Current News

Two elderly green protesters entered an exhibit at the British Library and used a lump hammer and cold chisel in an attempt to smash the glass case of the Magna Carta. [emphasis, links added]

One of the four remaining copies of the 1215 Magna Carta was the subject of the latest attack against symbols of Western culture by Green extremists on Friday.

The British Library, where two of those four copies are held, and where the Treasures Gallery where one of them is on display was closed after the incident today, confirmed the ancient vellum document laying out the roots of Western liberty was not damaged.

A spokesman for the British Library said: “An incident occurred at the British Library on Friday, 10 May, in which two individuals attacked the toughened glass case containing the Magna Carta in the Library’s Treasures Gallery.

“The Library’s Security team intervened to prevent further damage to the case, which was minimal. The police were notified and the Magna Carta itself remains undamaged.”

Activist group Just Stop Oil, which has now spent years shutting down city traffic, rushing the stage at musical performances, disrupting sporting fixtures, and damaging paintings in art galleries named their activists as 82-year-old priest the Rev Dr Sue Parfitt — the Church of England has ordained women priests since 1992 — and 85-year-old teacher Judy Bruce.

The group justified their action at the British Library, saying it was to bring attention to their demands that the “government commit to an emergency plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030”.

Just Stop Oil said: “Clause 39 of the Magna Carta is one of four clauses still enshrined in UK common law, a so-called ‘golden passage’, that states: ‘No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or in any other way ruined, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

“Contrast that with civil law as it stands in 2024, where corporations are buying private laws in the form of injunctions that circumvent the people’s rights to a trial by jury for speaking out against the crimes of oil companies.”

In all, the group said, “Democracy has been hijacked by corporations that are destroying our communities for profit.”

The Magna Carta — ‘Great Charter — expressed rights for the church and barons from King John in the 13th century. Its clauses have been called the ‘birth certificate of democracy’ and of the rule of law.

This foundational status was exhibited alongside the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Bill of Rights in 2015 for its 800th birthday.

There are four original Magna Carta copies, three of which are in legible condition, one having been mostly destroyed by fire.

One copy was sent to the United States during the Second World War, just in case. Further copies from re-issues exist, including one kept in the Australian Parliament which was signed by King John’s grandson, King Edward I.

See more here Substack

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