The Just Stop Oil protester who stormed the World Snooker Championships glued his hand to a painting at the Manchester Art Gallery last year in another demonstration.
Play was halted at the Crucible in Sheffield yesterday after demonstrators invaded the playing area shortly after the start of the evening session. One of the protesters, a man, interrupted the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry by jumping on the table where he released a packet of orange powder paint.
This protester has now been named as Edred Whittingham, the Mirror reports. Known as Eddie, he is a politics, philosophy and economics student at Exeter University and an active member of Just Stop Oil.
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Whittingham has claimed to have been arrested six times in the past year. In July of last year, he glued his hand to a famous artwork in the Manchester Art Gallery.
Just Stop Oil said he spent three days in custody following that action. At the time of the incident, which sparked an evacuation at the venue, police confirmed two men were arrested.
The protest group are demanding the UK government immediately halt all new oil and gas consents and licences. They have disrupted several sporting events over the past year, including Everton's clash with Newcastle last March and the 2022 British Grand Prix.
During the protest at the World Snooker Championships, Whittingham jumped on one table, while a separate protester was caught by the referee of the second match. His partner in crime at the Crucible has been named as Margaret Reid, 52, a former museum professional from Kendal, Cumbria.
After the protest, he said: "I don’t want to be disrupting something that people enjoy, but we’re facing an extremely grave situation. Europe is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years.
"We’re seeing mass crop failure right now. We’re facing mass starvation, billions of refugees and civilizational collapse if this continues.
"We can’t continue to sit back and act as if everything’s OK. If you want to do something to prevent the greatest crisis we’ve ever faced, go to juststopoil.org and sign up for a slow march from April 24th in London."
Whittingham was previously detained last September after taking part in a protest at the Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire. A full-time student, he has previously claimed he opposes having children due to the threat of the climate crisis.
He told GB News: "I already have decided that I won’t be having children because I can’t guarantee that there will be a habitable planet for them to grow up into. I think it’s the moral choice, given the circumstances we are facing. One and a half degrees of warming is now locked in.
"Two degrees of warming is likely. If we go over two degrees, we could destabilise global civilisation."
Following the disruption on Monday, a statement from Just Stop Oil said: "New oil and gas will snooker us. At around 7:20pm, two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, interrupting play.
"The pair proceeded to cover the tables in orange powder paint before being removed by security and arrested. They are demanding that the Government immediately stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to step into in civil resistance against the Government’s genocidal policies.
"We know new oil and gas will kill millions, but the UK government is licensing 100+ new fossil fuel projects. Why would ordinary people not try everything in their power to stop that? The time for polite petitions is over. Disruption is coming whether we like it or not."
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