Play at Wimbledon was twice suspended after two separate Just Stop Oil protestors disrupted play on Wednesday afternoon.
The first incident occurred during the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro on Court number 18 when two protesters stormed the court and threw jigsaw pieces and orange confetti onto the ground.
These two protesters were arrested for their actions, but the same court was targeted later in the day during a match between Katie Boulder and Daria Savile when activists again threw jigsaw pieces and confetti onto the court.
Play resumed around 10 minutes later after both Boulder and Saville helped clear the court.
The first incident saw two people arrested, with the Metropolitan Police confirming on Twitter that a man and a woman were in custody after the disruption. A third person was arrested after the second incident.
Just Stop Oil has named the activists as Deborah Wilde and Simon Milner-Edwards.
Wimbledon tweeted: “Following an incident on Court 18, two individuals have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage and these individuals have now been removed from the Grounds.
“Play on the court was temporarily paused and, following a suspension in play due to a rain delay, play is about to resume.”
The crowd jeered them before they were escorted away by security guards and police.
Grounds staff came on to pick the confetti and jigsaw pieces up while one member used a leafblower shortly before the rain started.
The protest happened as Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held talks with police and sports chiefs to discuss how to prevent Just Stop Oil activists targeting flagship events.
The second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship have all been affected in recent months.
In a statement, Just Stop Oil said “we can’t leave it to the next generation to pick up the pieces”.
Deborah Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, ran on the court shortly after 2.10pm.
She 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.”
The other Just Stop Oil protester who invaded Court 18 was Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician, from Manchester.
He revealed he brought the confetti into the grounds in a jigsaw box, but refused to say which gate he entered through.
Via the JSO statement, 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?”
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