Two Just Stop Oil supporters disrupted World Snooker Championship, demanding that the Government immediately stop all new UK fossil fuel projects.
Two protesters invaded the playing area at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England, shortly after play began, with one protester jumping on the table and emptying the contents of a packet of orange powder before being dragged away by security.
A second protester tried to attach themselves to the adjacent table but was prevented from doing so.
Play resumed on the second table after a 40-minute break, with the first table being cleaned.
Just Stop Oil later took to social media, saying they were behind the protest and “demanding that the Government immediately stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to step into civil resistance against the Government’s genocidal policies.”
Former world champion Stephen Hendry, on commentary for the BBC, said: “I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.”
Meanwhile another protest was going down at the Grand National on Saturday 15 April. This time it was 300 Animal Rising activists, attempting to invade the race course ahead of the Grand National, an emblematic horse racing event.
Merseyside police said 118 people had been arrested following the disruption that caused a 14-minute delay to the world’s most famous steeplechase on Saturday.
Animal Rising, the group behind the protest, said on Sunday that 42 people had been de-arrested and a further 68 remained in custody.
They were arrested for a range of alleged offences including causing public nuisance and criminal damage. Scores of activists used ladders to scale the perimeter fences, with at least two fixing themselves to a jump using glue and lock-on devices.
Alex Lockwood, an Animal Rising spokesperson and volunteer, said to The Guardian: “Returning to the bigger picture, has anyone yet taken any action that is proportionate to the coming social and economic collapse that is likely to result from the climate crisis?
“Have we persuaded our climate-insane government to take proportionate action? Not yet – if we had, it would have already ended animal farming and fishing and supported farmers into safer, more sustainable practices.
“That’s why we’ll be taking more action this year, along with all those acting to challenge the existential threat.”
As such, protests are likely to happen more frequently in the coming days, by whether environmental or animal rights activists.
Some security professionals commented on what this means for businesses and security industry and security staff in general.
A spokesperson from SIU, a multi trade body for security, said: “Threat to businesses by means of disruption by environmental protests has been very high this year, especially at public events.
“Protesters continue to test security provision at public events.
“So, we encourage all security employers to provide additional awareness training for their staff and review their risk assembly for each site they provide cover for.
“This could be a way to increase their staff’s training levels as per their new risk assessments.”
(Source: The Guardian and The Guardian)
(Video: Twitter)
