Two climate protesters in their 80s have smashed the glass around the Magna Carta at the British Library in London.

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

Just Stop Oil said the pair then held up a sign reading “The government is breaking the law” before gluing themselves to the display.

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.

“We must get things in proportion. 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.”

Bruce said: “This week 400 respected scientists – contributors to IPCC reports, are saying we are ‘woefully unprepared’ for what’s coming – 2.5°C or more of heating above pre-industrial levels.

“Instead of acting, our dysfunctional government is like the three monkeys – ‘see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing’ –pretend we’ve got 25 years. We haven’t!

“We must get off our addiction to oil and gas by 2030 – starting now.”

–AAP