Three retirees have been charged with aggravated trespass after Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted two matches at Wimbledon this week.
Deborah Wilde, 68, Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, and William Ward, 66, have all been bailed and will appear in court on August 7 after orange confetti was thrown on the courts on Wednesday.
Ward, a retired civil engineer from Epsom, was escorted from the court after a match between Briton Katie Boulter and Daria Saville was disrupted at about 4.30pm on Wednesday.
Wilde, a retired teacher from London, and Milner-Edwards, a retired musician from Manchester, were arrested just after 2pm on the same day after a protest during a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro.
The two players helped clear the grass of orange confetti and scattered jigsaw pieces before play resumed.
All three protestors were detained by security staff before being arrested and taken into custody.
British number one Boulter told reporters after winning her match it was a “tough moment” for 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.
When 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 on to 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.”
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.
