Just Stop Oil disrupt Wimbledon 2023 for second time as protesters again storm court 18
Just Stop Oil protest has disrupted play on Court 18 at Wimbledon for a second time on Wednesday, this time interrupting British star Katie Boulter’s match.
A protester ran onto the court halfway through the first set tiebreak between Boulter and Daria Saville during their first-round match.
The man ran onto the grass during the change of ends shortly before 4.30pm throwing confetti and jigsaw pieces in a similar protest to one on the same outside court a few hours earlier.
He was dragged from the court by Championship staff at the All England Club. Both players helped the ball boys and girls clear the court of confetti before play resumed.
Two protesters from the group were earlier arrested after disrupting a different match by running onto the same court and throwing orange confetti.
The pair sat down in the centre of the court as Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro played.
The championships said two people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage and removed from the grounds.
Police were seen flanking the protester in the Boulter match as he received treatment from St John’s Ambulance staff after he was dragged from the court.
He was wearing a t-shirt with ‘For Ivy and Leo, yet to be born’ on the back.
It was reported last month that protesters were “hatching a plot” to disrupt the world famous tennis tournament. It was reported that they wanted to gain access to Centre Court and glue themselves to the court net.
The protesters are understood to have hid the confetti in boxes that also contained Wimbledon-themed puzzles – with them also throwing the jigsaw pieces during the protests.
In a statement, Just Stop Oil said of their motivation: “We can’t leave it to the next generation to pick up the pieces.”
Deborah Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, who was one of the protesters who ran on the court in the first protest shortly after 2.10pm, said: “I’m just an ordinary grandmother in resistance to this government’s policy of serving us new oil and gas licences. In normal circumstances this sort of disruption would be entirely unacceptable, but these aren’t normal circumstances.
“We’ve just had the hottest June on record, breaking the previous record by nearly a whole degree! We don’t need Hawk-eye to see that our government issuing over 100 new fossil fuel licences is a very bad line-call.
“Forget strawberries and cream, scientists are warning of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war. We are facing new pandemics, economic inflation and increasingly authoritarian governments who will attempt to crush civil unrest.
“This is a crisis and it needs a crisis response. I want a safe future, not just for my grandchildren but for all children around the world and the generations to come.
Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician, from Manchester, was the other protester in the first protest.
He said: “I’m here for my grandchildren and everybody else’s. I’m not prepared to let our politicians wreck everything and leave the next generation to pick up the pieces.
“The last thing I want to do is spoil people’s enjoyment of Wimbledon, but right now, on Centre Court, it’s humanity versus oil and gas – and the umpire is getting every call wrong.
“How long are we going to take this before we see a McEnroe-level meltdown?
Organisers have blamed long queues at Wimbledon for extensive searches of fans coming into the All England Club to enjoy the tennis.
Wimbledon organisers said previously they are “not complacent” about the “high” risk of protest at the tournament and have boosted security measures over concerns about disruption.
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It comes just a week after three people were arrested at Lord’s Cricket Ground on the first day of the second Ashes Test – including one man who was carried off the pitch by England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman was holding talks on Wednesday with senior sporting figures and police leaders on protecting major events from such action.
