Premiership final Just Stop Oil protestors charged
Two men have been charged in connection with protest activity during the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police said that Samuel Johnson, 40, of Reydon, Suffolk, and Patrick Hart, 37, of Brislington, Bristol, were charged with aggravated trespass.
The Just Stop Oil protesters invaded the pitch midway through the first half of the match between Saracens and Sale, throwing orange paint powder on to the field.
The duo were escorted out of the stadium by stewards and the game continued, with Saracens going on to win 35-25.
A statement from Commander Kyle Gordon, of the Met, read: “To date we have seen 102 slow marches across London by Just Stop Oil that has caused serious disruption and frustration to those going about their business in the city leading to 51 arrests to date.
“Similarly, yesterday’s incident at the rugby final will have caused frustration to both the players and spectators alike.
“With many other events taking place, and visitors in our capital this weekend, we will continue to monitor and respond to such incidents quickly.
“Where protest moves into criminality or serious disruption, we will take robust action to ensure Londoners and visitors alike can continue to enjoy their Bank Holiday weekend.”
A statement from Just Stop Oil was published after the incident confirming that two protesters had taken to the pitch and outlined their reasons for doing so.
“Two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the Gallagher Premiership Rugby final,” read the statement.
“They are demanding a halt to any new licences for oil, gas and coal projects in the UK.”
Hart said: “I am doing this because it’s my duty as a doctor. The climate crisis is the greatest health crisis humanity has ever faced.
“People are dying now and more will die every day unless we stop new oil, gas and coal.
“In the same way the tobacco companies lied to us that tobacco was safe, the scrum of fossil fuel companies and corrupt politicians have been lying to us. They are keeping us addicted to fossil fuels, even though they know it’s killing us.
“I am not prepared to let them get away with mass murder. We are ordinary people. We are the doctors and nurses who care for you when you are sick. I call on everyone to come and join us in the streets and be on the right side of history.”
Johnson said: “I took action today simply because we have run out of time. We’ve got to tackle this now.
“We have known for longer than I’ve been alive what would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels and now we are seeing this catastrophe unfold in real time. The whole world knows that licensing new fossil fuel projects in 2023 will cause the deaths of millions of people.
“We are at the greatest crossroads humanity has ever faced and unless we act now we will lose everything we have ever cared about. I have a nephew who is seven years old, who I love to bits, and as long as I have breath in my lungs I will fight to protect his future.”
The protest is similar to one that took place at the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield in April.
A man tipped orange paint on a table during the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry before a woman was prevented by referee Olivier Marteel from doing the same thing on the opposite table.
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What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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