Actress Sigourney Weaver was rushed off the stage on Monday as two climate activists staged a protest in the middle of a performance of “The Tempest” at the Theatre Royal in London’s Covent Garden.
The Daily Mail reported that London’s Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that a 60-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman were arrested Monday on suspicion of aggravated trespass. In a press release on the “Just Stop Oil” website, the climate activist group identified Richard Weir as the 60-year-old man and Hayley Walsh as the 42-year-old woman involved in Monday’s protest.
“Two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted a performance of the Tempest, starring legendary actor Sigourney Weaver,” Just Stop Oil stated. “They are demanding the UK government phase out fossil fuel burning by 2030.”
A video of Monday’s incident shows protesters walking onto the stage as Weaver was performing her role in “The Tempest.” The climate activists can be seen holding a sign reading “Over 1.5 Degrees is a Global Shipwreck.”
Just Stop Oil explained that the sign displayed by the protesters was in reference to the “recent announcement that 2024 was the first full year over the 1.5 degree safe limit for global temperature rise.”
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In addition to displaying the climate sign, the two protesters also fired a confetti cannon near Weaver, prompting an announcer to say, “We’ll have to stop the show, ladies and gentlemen, sorry.” A stage crew member can also be seen quickly escorting Weaver off the London stage.
In the video, the audience can be heard booing as the climate protesters disrupted Monday’s performance. Later in the video, the audience can be heard cheering after the climate activists were removed from the stage by a crew member.
In a statement shared by Just Stop Oil, Walsh said, “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.”
“1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck we can’t ignore. Wildfires in California, deadly floods in Valencia and hundreds of thousands without power in the UK this weekend,” Walsh added. “This isn’t a distant, future problem. We need a global treaty to stop fossil fuel burning and a global emergency response.”