Two Just Stop Oil protesters have been charged with aggravated trespass after disrupting a theatre performance in the West End.
Richard Weir, 60, from Tynemouth, and Hayley Walsh, 42, from Radcliffe on Trent, were charged on the 28thJanuary for allegedly storming the stage during a performance of The Tempest at Theatre Royal on Drury Lane.
The play, which included renowned performer Sigourney Weaver, was disrupted at around 8pm as Weir and Walsh carried a sign onto the stage that read: “Over 1.5 Degrees is a Global Shipwreck”.
Walsh, who partook in the protest, said in a statement: “I am scared for my children, I can’t sleepwalk them into a future of food shortages, life-threatening storms and wars for resources.
“Years of writing to MPs, going on marches and teaching my students to be more sustainable, hasn’t seen the urgent change needed.”
Walsh then alluded to the urgency of the climate situation by citing recent climate-related catastrophes such as fatal floods in Valencia, wildfires in California, and severe storms that caused thousands of people in the UK to lose electricity.
Weir and Walsh were protesting the UK government’s inaction on climate change and fossil fuel use.
The pair are scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on the 25th February.
Weir added: “Unless we come together and demand a move away from fossil fuels, we will go the same way as manufacturing in the UK.”
Weir then called for a quick and coordinated transition away from fossil fuels by 2030, pointing out the increasing costs of climate change on communities, housing and food.
The disruptive civil disobedience methods of Just Stop Oil have garnered a lot of attention in recent years.
In 2024, the campaign successfully called for the UK government to agree to a moratorium on new oil and gas exploration.
In order to phase out the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030, the group is now urging international action and a treaty.
