Just Stop Oil’s lead funder Dale Vince has warned that more high-profile sport is on the organisation’s target list as it seeks to jolt more people out of “sleepwalking” amid a worsening climate crisis.
On Wednesday Wimbledon became the latest event to be disrupted by activists, who twice ran on to Court 18 to delay play by throwing confetti and jigsaw pieces across the grass.
It followed similar interventions from protesters at the World Snooker Championship, the rugby union Premiership final and last week’s Ashes Test at Lord’s.
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However, Vince has told the Guardian that the group would continue its sporting protests – even if, like Wimbledon, sports did more to stress their environmental credentials.
“I don’t think the premise for choosing where to protest is based on that kind of criteria,” he said. “Is cricket good or bad? I don’t think that’s the question. It’s about how much disruption can we cause, how many headlines can we grab. It’s about high-profile stuff.
“So if you’re a high-profile sport, I would say that probably you might be on the target list. That’s my reading of it.”
Vince, who is also chairman of Forest Green Rovers, stressed that he was not privy to Just Stop Oil’s future plans when he spoke before the protests at Wimbledon. But he urged sports fans to accept that a small disruption in play was nothing compared to the havoc being reaped by climate change.
“You’re going to upset people when you disrupt things, that’s for sure,” he said. “But look, the cricket was disrupted for three or four minutes. The UN says four million people have lost their lives in the climate crisis so far. Other data shows that 20 million people globally are made homeless every year. Compared to that, a few minutes’ delay at a sporting event really is nothing.”
Vince accepted that many people might be sympathetic to Just Stop Oil’s views, but not their methods. However he said he strongly disagreed with a softly-softly approach.
“The most effective protest is a disruptive one,” he said. “It is not one where you stand at the side of the road and everything’s going on as normal, while you chant and wave placards. That’s less effective than when you disrupt everyday life, business as usual.
“The point we are trying to make is that there’s a big harm happening in the world that is pushed to the background. And if we don’t deal with it properly, the global temperature will disrupt life beyond all measures that we have.”
Vince insisted that without significant change in global approach – and a change in the UK government – the crisis would only grow.
“If you look at the disruption of the Covid lockdowns you can square it or cube it if the climate crisis that’s coming if we don’t avoid a rise of three degrees,” he said. “So it is about shaking people out of sleepwalking, to say that something has to be done about this.”
“Of course, the real target is the government, who are hellbent on drilling for more fossil fuels in the face of all of the science.”
Rishi Sunak told Conservative party members on Wednesday: “The environment is important to all of us. But policy should be decided by your elected MPs and councillors, not by a paint-wielding or road-blocking, noisy minority.”
The prime minister went on to state: “While Labour rely on the finances of eco-fanatics like Dale Vince, we rely on the support of ordinary people like yourself.“We are taking tough action against Just Stop Oil’s campaign to block roads, glue themselves to petrol stations, disrupt sporting events and destroy priceless works of art.”
On Thursday the policing minister, Chris Philp, told Times Radio: “We’d like to see those sporting organisations like Wimbledon increase the number of marshals and stewards. They have to be more careful about checking people coming into sporting events and react really quickly when something happens.”
He added that ministers “strongly encourage” the use of the courts to seek orders banning particular actions during sporting events.
“At the meeting yesterday we had with sporting leaders, we encouraged the use of injunctions,” he said. “Because that allows for a much more severe criminal penalty if the injunction gets breached.”
An Animal Rising activist who ran on to the track at the Derby, “endangering” police who dragged him away just before the horses galloped past, was spared jail after pleading guilty at Guildford Crown Court on Thursday to causing public nuisance.
Ben Newman, 32, was criticised by the judge for risking the safety of police and security guards who dragged him to one side with a minute to spare. Judge Mark Ockelton sentenced him to an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years and fined him a total of £1,356.
Judge Ockelton said: “Despite your claim [of being well-intentioned], there was a clear danger to the police and security staff. There you were on the track, the horses were coming, and they had to get rid of you. You couldn’t predict how long that would take.
“There was no disruption but that was up to their competence, not your planning.”
