A climate activist set his own arm alight in protest against the increased usage of private jets in the UK. The incident took place in London last week.
Play was briefly halted during the tennis Laver Cup match in London when a man ran on court and set his arm on fire on Friday. The man was protesting against the use of private jets in Britain, news agency Reuters reported.
In a video that has since gone viral, the young man can be seen sitting on the court near the net, when he set his arm on fire until security guards rushed to extinguish the fire and remove the protester off the court.
Fans were left shocked at the incident that took place during the match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman at London’s O2 Arena.
“A man accessed the court this afternoon and was promptly removed by security,” Reuters quoted a Laver Cup official as saying.
“Play was stopped briefly, he has been arrested and the situation is being handled by the police.”
The man wore a T-shirt with the slogan ‘End UK Private Jets’. As per British media, he was a member of the End UK Private Jets group that claims “carbon emissions in 2022 are genocide”.
‘Climate protesters’ made earlier attempts to damage historic paintings including Mona Lisa, which was left unharmed after a visitor tried to smash the glass before smearing cream across its surface in a similar protest.
Airport Technology noted that within Europe, “private jets are mostly used for intra-European flights, with seven out of 10 of the most polluting routes spread across Switzerland, Italy, the UK and France”.
In the world of private European flying, the UK and France are the continent’s biggest polluters, producing 19.2% and 16.5% of CO² emissions, the equivalent of that produced by 20 other European countries.