A Just Stop Oil (JSO) protester has been carried off the pitch at Lord's during the second Ashes test by England's Jonny Bairstow as activists threw orange paint dust during play. The Metropolitan Police said three people had been arrested after protestors invaded the pitch.
In a statement on Twitter, Just Stop Oil said it did not know who the protesters were but supported their actions.
It said: "At 11am, three Just Stop Oil supporters stormed the pitch at Lord's Cricket Ground in a cloud of orange powder paint and disrupted the #Ashes2023 Second Test between England and Australia. It's just not cricket to license new oil, gas and coal whilst the climate crisis knocks us for six.
"The Just Stop Oil supporters are demanding the UK Govt immediately halt and new fossil fuel projects in the UK and are calling on Lord's to make a statement demanding the same (sic). In recent weeks, Asia has been experiencing a historic heatwave. Reports indicate that cricket will be the hardest hit of all the major pitch sports by the extreme conditions wrought by the climate crisis - much of the cricketing world is at serious risk.
"Lord's Cricket Ground boasts about being powered by 100% renewable energy, yet their principal partner is JP Morgan, the world's worst fossil bank that contributed 317 billion in fossil fuel financing from 2016 to 2020. P.S. we don't know who these people are but we (heart symbol) them."
The climate change group has been staging daily protests since April 24, disrupting high profile events like the Chelsea Flower Show, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship, as well as holding daily slow marches on major London roads.
On Monday, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist told LBC that policing the action has cost £5.5 million since April alone, on top of the £7.5 million spent policing the series of protests JSO staged between last October and December. Earlier this month, protest laws were tightened up to allow officers to intervene earlier where protesters are marching in the road, forcing them onto the pavement where disruption is felt to be more than minor.
