Three arrested after two protests at Wimbledon on third day of tournament

Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.
Three people have been arrested after two protests disrupted tennis at Wimbledon on the third day of the tournament (Adam Davy/PA)
PA Wire
Ellie Ng5 July 2023

Three Just Stop Oil (JSO) supporters have been arrested after two protests disrupted matches at Wimbledon on the third day of the tennis tournament.

Two men and a woman were held on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage after orange confetti and jigsaw puzzle pieces were thrown on to Court 18.

Souvenir jigsaws are now unavailable to buy at the Wimbledon shop after the two incidents which occurred about two hours apart on Wednesday.

The protesters were named by JSO as Deborah Wilde, Simon Milner-Edwards and William John Ward.

Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, and Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician from Manchester, were arrested during the first protest just after 2pm during a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro.

Ward, 66, a retired civil engineer from Epsom, was escorted from the court after a match between Briton Katie Boulter and Daria Saville was disrupted later in the afternoon.

The two players helped clear the grass of the orange confetti and the scattered jigsaw pieces before play resumed.

British number one Boulter told reporters after winning her match that it was a “tough moment” for both her and her opponent when protesters stopped play.

Asked if she was worried, she said: “Definitely. You never know what it is.

“I think I heard the crowd before I saw anything. Then I realised what it was because I saw it in the previous match.

“It was obviously a little bit of a shock to the system.

“I think we both handled it really well. It’s a really unfortunate situation for everyone.”

Dimitrov said his first reaction was to remove the protesters from the court.

Told an activist was physically carried off during the cricket last week, he said: “I mean, my first reaction was initially to go also, but then I also realised that’s not my place to do that.”

The Metropolitan Police tweeted after the second protest: “We are aware of an incident on Court 18 whereby one male has unlawfully entered the field of play and discharged items onto the playing surface.

“He was immediately removed from the grounds and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.”

First aiders attended to the man before he was escorted from court.

Wimbledon said on Twitter after the first stoppage: “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.”

Spectators Kay, 63, and Cerys Galvin, 30, from Buckinghamshire called the first protest on Court 18 “horrible”.

The protesters at Wimbledon were determined to ruin the day’s play for spectators and sports fans across the world

Suella Braverman, Home Secretary

The 63-year-old said: “I believe in trying to do stuff for climate change but not that sort of protest.

“Both players have been so disrupted because of the weather and then having that as well, it’s just horrible.”

Liz Owen, 64, from Cardiff, who visited Wimbledon on Wednesday and heard about the protesters on Court 18, said: “We know that everybody has got a right to do this peacefully but I think when you’re at a major sporting event and people have paid a lot of money to come to these big grand slams they’re hitting the wrong people, as usual.

“They are getting us irritated. I don’t think it helps their cause at all.

“My view would be that it doesn’t really help anything, which is quite sad.

“It’s a major event which is marred by that.”

The first protest happened as Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held talks with police and sports chiefs on how to prevent Just Stop Oil activists targeting flagship events.

Ms Braverman said after the meeting: “The protesters at Wimbledon were determined to ruin the day’s play for spectators and sports fans across the world.

“This is unacceptable. We will be uncompromisingly tough on the selfish protesters intent on spoiling our world-class sporting occasions this summer.

“The discussions I chaired at Downing Street were very productive. Sports, police and Government are united against preventing further disruption of this kind.”

The second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship have also 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”.

Wilde said: “In normal circumstances this sort of disruption would be entirely unacceptable, but these aren’t normal circumstances.”

She added: “Forget strawberries and cream, scientists are warning of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war.”

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

Simon Milner-Edwards

Milner-Edwards said: “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.”

Ward said: “I don’t like making a racket, but I don’t want my grandchildren, nieces and nephews to suffer. Right now, millions of people are being forced outside of the conditions necessary to support human life.”

“I have no choice but to get the message out in whatever way I can,” he added.

More than 10,000 fans joined the Wimbledon queue on Wednesday and organisers had warned of long waits.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said more people queued on Wednesday than Tuesday, with stewards in Wimbledon Park suggesting the longer lines were down to an improved weather forecast.

There were 38,441 in attendance for Tuesday’s rain-affected matches, compared with 42,815 on day one of the championships.

This was down 3% from the 39,450 spectators on day two last year, and the lowest figure for the second day of Wimbledon since 2016.

The tournament played catch-up after 69 matches were cancelled over the course of Tuesday afternoon due to the washout.

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