The Just Stop Oil protestors who interrupted the World Snooker Championship on Monday evening have spoken publicly on why they stormed the tables. One was caught by referee Olivier Marteel and security but on table one there was less success as a man was able to almost completely cover the cloth in orange powder before being hauled off. The incident meant the match later had to be abandoned for the evening.
The BBC was broadcasting the first frame of Robert Milkins’ first-round match with Joe Perry at the Crucible when a man wearing a ‘Just Stop Oil’ t-shirt ran into shot of the camera and took to the table at around 7.20pm. He then proceeded to cover it in what the Beeb have reported as dried orange paint.
Once the cameras cut to a wider shot, it became clear that another protestor had crashed the second table too. Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi were also playing a first-round match at the same time inside the arena as the BBC showed Milkin vs Perry. The two protestors were met with an angry reaction from the Crucible crowd, who demanded security take them out, with the Beeb’s broadcast picking up a few expletives during the incident.
Just Stop Oil have claimed credit for the incident, with 25-year-old Eddie Whittingham, a student from Exeter University and Margaret Reid, a 52-year-old from Kendal, both named as among those who ‘took action’. Both the male and female who conducted the protest were removed by security and arrested by South Yorkshire Police.
Reid declared herself ‘angry’ and insisted that she felt the protest was necessary because of the UK’s policies towards fossil fuels. Speaking to juststopoil.org, she declared: “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 £236million 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. 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.” While Whittingham 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. 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.”
Just Stop Oil added in their press release: “In moments of emergency, we must stand up and be brave, we must stand up for good over evil, life over death, right over wrong. Just Stop Oil is calling on everyone to pick a side. Either you are actively supporting civil resistance, fighting for life, or you are complicit with genocide.
“The time is now. Join us and slow march, while you still can. Our indefinite campaign of civil resistance begins on April 24th and will not end until our government ends new oil and gas.”
Play resumed in the Allen vs Fan match around 40 minutes later. That came after master of ceremonies Rob Walker was filmed using a hoover to tidy up the powder. But Milkins vs Perry would not resume due to the damage caused, which meant the table would need to be reclothed.
A statement from World Snooker Tour read: “UPDATE: Robert Milkins vs Joe Perry will not resume tonight. They will play their first session on Tuesday evening from 7pm. The scheduling for their second session will be confirmed in due course. #CazooWorldChampionship.”
