Climate Activists Vandalize Snooker Championship: What We Know So Far

On Monday night, a climate activist made a really big mess at a snooker table during the world championship in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. He got on top of the table and dumped orange powder all over it. But luckily, someone came to the rescue, because overnight they magically fixed it up so it was ready to go again on Tuesday morning!

A match between two English players, Robert Milkins and Joe Perry, was stopped mid-way through but will restart on Tuesday. The table cover had to be replaced too. The next game played on this same table in the morning session of Tuesday did not show any signs of orange powder. An activist wearing a T-shirt saying “Just Stop Oil” was responsible for using the orange powder – it was their way of drawing attention towards fossil fuel projects in Britain.

The activist group Just Stop Oil shared a video showing the incident and urged institutions involved in sports to oppose the government’s unfair policies. At the same time, a person scattered orange powder while another person tied themselves to one of the tables which were being used for playing.

The referee held the woman back and security came to take her away. Mark Allen’s match with Fan Zhengyi was resumed 45 minutes later and it ended 10-5 in favor of Mark Allen.

Mark Allen said being in that situation was a strange experience. He explained that he heard a loud noise and then saw a woman on his table. He could tell the chaos she caused on the other table and was fortunate enough not to have experienced anything similar himself.

“I hate even talking about this event because these two people are just being dumb. What do they think they’ll get for doing this? There must be better ways to make their point.”

Police reported that a 30-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested and put in prison for causing damage.

Two days ago, a lot of people got arrested at the Grand National horse race in Britain. Some protesters even tried to climb the fence around Aintree Racecourse and “attach” themselves to the big fences on the track.