The World Snooker Championship on Monday (April 17) was interrupted byJust Stop Oil protesters.
A man climbed on to the snooker table during the first-round match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry. A woman then tried to glue herself to the second table during Mark Allen’s first-round clash with Fan Zhengyi but referee Olivier Marteel intervened.
Milkins and Perry were forced to abandon their game, which will resume on Tuesday (April 18). Allen and Fan were able to resume their encounter after 40 minutes.
Allen later told BBC Sport: “It was a surreal moment but I feel like even talking about it is giving them airtime they don’t deserve because they are just idiots.
“What are they trying to gain from what they have done? I am sure there are better ways to get their point across."
South Yorkshire Police later arrested a man and a woman, named by Just Stop Oil as Eddie Whittingham and Margaret Reid.
But what were Just Stop Oil protesting about and why did they target snooker?
Why did Just Stop Oil protest at the snooker game?
Just Stop Oil says it protested at the World Snooker Championship to urge UK sporting institutions “to join in civil resistance against the Government’s genocidal policies”.
The group is demanding that the Government stop all new UK fossil fuel projects.
Margaret Reid, 52, a former museum professional from Kendal, said in a statement released by Just Stop Oil: “I did not take this action lightly, but I cannot remain a passive spectator while our Government knowingly pushes us down a path to destruction.
“They are giving handouts of £236 million per week of our money, to the most profitable industry on earth, during a cost of living crisis. I can no longer justify watching from the sidelines.”
She added: “I am angry and heartbroken that I have found myself in a position where taking this sort of disruptive action is the only way to get heard.”
Meanwhile, Eddie Whittingham, 25, a student at the University of Exeter, 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 civilisational collapse if this continues.”
He added: “We can’t continue to sit back and act as if everything’s OK.”
