Protestors have disrupted two matches at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield. The protestors entered the playing area, with audiences heard shouting, before one of them climbed onto the table to throw orange powder, with the second protestor apprehended before getting onto the table and escorted off the premises. Robert Milkins and Joe Perry were playing their first-round match when the incident took place. The table has now been hoovered by master of ceremonies Rob Walker, but will need to be inspected before the game can restart. While the second protester tried to throw powder on Mark Allen and China’s Fan Zhengyi’s table, they were apprehended before being able to do so. Their match has now been resumed. Fans were quick to take to Twitter to post videos of the event, with one user saying: “What a weird thing to target, Monday night at the snooker” The official Twitter account of the World Snooker Tour updated fans shortly after 7.30pm. They said: “Play has been temporarily delayed, and we expect it to resume shortly. More news to follow.” Just Stop Oil have since taken credit for the protest. On Twitter, they posted to say: “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.” BBC commentator and former snooker world chamption Stephen Hendry said on BBC Red Button: “I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first. “It is scary - wow! You just hope the cloth can be recovered from that. It caught us all by surprise and then this happens. “For me, straight away as a snooker player I am thinking: ‘Is the table recoverable?’ We don’t know what that is on the table.”
