Revealed: Just Stop Oil protester who disrupted world snooker championship

Climate activism groups said they would step up protests in ‘new and inventive’ ways after throwing orange powder at the Crucible

A Just Stop Oil protester who covered a snooker table in paint halting a world championship game is a student who is against having children due to the climate crisis.

Wearing a “Just Stop Oil” T-shirt, Edred Whittingham interrupted the match on Monday between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at the Crucible Theatre by jumping onto one of the tables and tipping out orange powder.

The 25 year-old is a philosophy, politics and economics student at Exeter University who has been involved in a number of previous Just Stop Oil protests.

Just Stop Oil protester Edred Whittingham, known as Eddie, jumps on the table and throws orange powder (PA Wire)

Another protester was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table by the referee Olivier Marteel.

As they climbed on the snooker table stopping the game, fans could be heard yelling: “You f***ing idiots”, “What are you proving?” and “Criminal damage.” The pair defiantly shouted back that the “climate crisis” was more important than snooker.

Appearing on GB News this year, Whittingham said he is opposed to having children “on moral grounds” as he “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,” he said.

Two people were detained after the protest (PA Wire)

South Yorkshire Police confirmed it had detained two people after Monday’s snooker protest.

“Two people were detained after protesters gained entry to The Crucible earlier this evening,” a spokesman said on Monday.

“A 25-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. Both are in police custody.”

Play was suspended for the evening on the affected table, which will be re-covered overnight.

Whittingham escorted out by security at the Crucible (PA)

Just Stop Oil also issued a statement that said: “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 civil resistance against the Government's genocidal policies."

It is the second time in three days that a major international sporting event has been disrupted by protesters, after 118 people were arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale the perimeter fence at the Grand National.