Just Stop Oil says two protesters in their 80s have broken the glass around the Magna Carta at the British Library.

The climate activist group said Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, an 85-year-old retired biology teacher, entered the library and smashed the glass enclosure around the historic document.

According to Just Stop Oil, the pair then glued themselves to the enclosure holding a sign which read “the government is breaking the law”, and could be heard saying: “Is the government above the law?”

The British Library in London holds two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, with the others being held at Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals.

It was issued in June 1215 and was the first document to put into writing the principle that the King and his government were not above the law.

Rev Parfitt said: “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.”

In a statement the British library confirmed two people had “attacked the toughened glass case” containing the historic landmark document in the library’s treasures gallery.

It added: “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.

“The treasures gallery is temporarily closed until further notice.”

The latest protest comes after the High Court ruled the government acted unlawfully by approving a plan to cut carbon emissions.

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