Culture

Watch These British Climate Activists Interrupt A Live Snooker Tournament

by Charles Rushforth  19 April 2023
A protester interrupting a game at the World Snooker Championship 2023

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Coal and gas activists infamous for throwing cans of soup at a Van Gough painting have pulled off their bravest stunt yet: interrupting the world snooker tournament by jumping up onto the tables mid-game.

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In surprising scenes from The Crucible Theatre two protesters from the British environmental group Just Stop Oil charged the stage at the World Snooker Tournament, with a male activist dispersing orange powder while scattering the carefully arranged balls as he knelt on a table. Simultaneously, a 52-year-old female protester attempted to glue herself to a nearby snooker table but was quickly restrained by security.

As the protesters shouted “oil and gas will kill us!”, extremely British shouts of “wanker” and “prick” could be heard in reply, the blokey serenity of the game dissipating as commentators condemned the “terrible, terrible scenes here at the Crucible”. The stunt led to a 45-minute stoppage as officials tried to restore the tables back to working order — spectators were even treated to images of snooker commentator Rob Walker doing his best to vacuum up the offending orange powder.

While the whole thing is extremely reminiscent of this sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look, you’ve gotta hand it to the protesters. Staging a protest at an art gallery protected solely by meek security guards and sympathetic art students is one thing, but interrupting the bastion of men’s pub entertainment to encourage a furious bald and stocky audience to curb fossil fuels is probably more terrifying than strapping yourself to a freight train.

Closer to home, environmental protestors from groups like Blockade Australia have been hit with trumped-up charges for relatively mild acts of civil disobedience, suppressed with strict bail conditions that prevent activists from using their phones or contacting friends. With more dire warnings from the latest IPCC report, one thing is certain: not even the most obscure sports are safe from climate activism.

Image Credit: @Lambykins60