Two Just Stop Oil protesters attack Magna Carta window | Just stop oil

Two Just Stop Oil protesters smashed the glass around the Magna Carta at the British Library.

Rev Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher, targeted the protective enclosure with a hammer and chisel on Friday morning.

Just Stop Oil said the two men then held up a sign reading “Government is breaking the law” and glued themselves to the screen.

The Metropolitan Police said two people had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and were in custody.

Parfitt said: “The Magna Carta is rightly revered because it is of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws. But there will be no freedom, no legality, no rights if we let climate change become the catastrophe that is threatened today.

“Things have to be proportionate. The abundance of life on Earth, the climatic stability that allows civilization to persist, this is what must be revered and protected above all else, even above our most precious objects. »

Bruce said: “This week, 400 respected scientists contributing to the IPCC reports say we are ‘woefully unprepared’ for what’s coming: 2.5 degrees or more of warming above pre-industrial levels. Instead of taking action, our dysfunctional government is like the three monkeys: “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” pretending we have 25 years in prison. We did not do it. We must rid ourselves of our dependence on oil and gas by 2030 – and now.”

Bruce was referring to a Guardian investigation published on Wednesday that showed hundreds of leading climate scientists expected global temperatures to rise at least 2.5C (4.5F) above current levels. pre-industrial during this century.

Nearly 80% of respondents, all members of the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predict global warming of at least 2.5°C, and almost half predict at least 3°C ​​(5.4°F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed limit of 1.5°C (2.7°F) would be reached.

The Guardian contacted every contactable lead author or editor of IPCC reports since 2018. Nearly half responded – 380 out of 843. IPCC reports are the gold standard for assessing climate change, endorsed by all governments and produced by experts in physical and social matters. Sciences.

Many experts told the survey they felt hopeless, furious and frightened by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.