NEW YORK – It happened again at a Grand Slam: environmental protests interrupted the US Open. Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova’s semifinal match was halted for 50 minutes.
Three of the 24,000 spectators at the Arthur Ashe Stadium began shouting slogans using the phrase “dead planet” and preventing the match between the North American and the Czech from continuing when Gauff was leading 6-4 and 1-0 on serve.
The guards removed two protesters. The third, a man about 35 years old used the best glue on the market on his bare feet to glue himself to the cement of the stadium’s middle floor.
The NYPD had to intervene, and worked with acetone to remove the glue on the soles of the protester’s feet when it was impossible to remove the man by force, given the possibility of injury. After several minutes on the job, the man was lifted from his seat and led out of the stadium in handcuffs. The crowd applaused and cheered the police action.
Juego suspendido. pic.twitter.com/18j2reN59N
— Clay (@_claymagazine) September 8, 2023
“At these large events, protesters use the platform. We will work to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future,” US Open director Stacey Allaster said on ESPN.
It already happened at Wimbledon in July. Just Stop Oil’s creativity was better than the security checks and at the All England Club:a group of people brought in shredded paper in a puzzle box which they then threw on court 18, without damaging the grass.
The interruption didn’t bother Gauff, who won 6-4, 7-5 and advanced to her first US Open final.
