A Just Stop Oil protestor who disrupted the World Snooker Championships has been revealed as politics, philosophy and economics student Edred Whittingham. The man from Cambridge made headlines for a protest during a key match at the Crucible on Monday night.
Play was stopped during a first round clash between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry as the Exeter University student climbed onto the snooker table before releasing orange chalk in to the air. He was then led away by security, reports the Mirror.
A secondary protestor, 52-year-old Margaret Reid, attempted to mount the table on the other side of the arena but the former museum worker from Cumbria was stopped.
The environmental activist group has been protesting major sporting events such as Premier League football clashes and the 2022 British Grand Prix to lobby the government to stop new gas and oil contracts to major companies.
Whittingham claims to have been arrested by police six times in the last year, and has been taken in to custody following two similar acts of protest: one by gluing his hand to a painting at the Manchester Art Gallery in July before being detained by police after a protest at Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire in September.
The full time student also previously stated in an interview he had 'already decided' against having children due to the climate crisis.
He told GB News: “I already have decided that I won’t be having children because I can’t guarantee that there will be a habitable planet for them to grow up into.
“I think it’s the moral choice, given the circumstances we are facing. One and a half degrees of warming is now locked in. Two degrees of warming is likely. If we go over two degrees, we could destabilise global civilisation.”
A statement from the group after the protest read: "New oil and gas will snooker us. At around 7.20pm, 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. They are demanding that the Government immediately stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to step into in civil resistance against the Government’s genocidal policies.
"We know new oil and gas will kill millions, but the UK government is licensing 100+ new fossil fuel projects. Why would ordinary people not try everything in their power to stop that?
"The time for polite petitions is over. Disruption is coming whether we like it or not."
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