The World Snooker Championship in UK's Sheffield was disrupted by protesters after a 'Just Stop Oil' activist poured a packet of orange powder paint over a table on Monday evening, BBC reported. A video of the incident that has surfaced on social media shows a man wearing a 'Just Stop Oil' t-shirt leaping onto the table during the game between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at the Crucible Theater. He then covered the table in orange powder, as the audience gasped in shock.
Meanwhile, another woman protester was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table by the referee Olivier Marteel.
The protest group's official Twitter page posted a video of the incident saying, ''At around 7:20 pm, 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.''
Watch the video here:
As a result, the game between Milkins and Perry was postponed as the table needed to be re-clothed. Normal play resumed at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Tuesday morning, as per CNN.
Notably, the group wants Britain to stop all new oil and gas projects and has staged a number of protests. In a press release, Just Stop Oil noted, ''They (protesters) are demanding that the government stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to join in civil resistance against the government's genocidal policies.''
Later, the two protesters were arrested by the police. In a statement, 'Just Stop Oil' said the protesters were Eddie Whittingham, 25, and Margaret Reid, 52.
South Yorkshire Police said in a statement, ''Two people were detained after protesters gained entry to The Crucible earlier this evening. A 25-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. Both are in police custody.''
Speaking about the stunt, Eddie 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.''
Prior to the sporting event, the protesters also targeted several art galleries. Last October, they threw tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting at the National Gallery in central London.
