Protesters force stoppage at World Snooker Championship

Protesters disrupted the evening session of the World Championship in Sheffield by invading the arena and tipping orange paint dye onto one of the tables shortly after play resumed.

A man wearing a ‘Just Stop Oil’ T-shirt interrupted the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry by jumping onto one of the tables and tipping out the powder, while a woman was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table by the quick thinking of referee Olivier Marteel.

Play was suspended for the evening on the affected table, which will be re-covered overnight, while the match between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi resumed after a delay of approximately 45 minutes.

It is the second time in three days that a major international sporting event has been disrupted, after 118 people were arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale the perimeter fence at the Grand National.

Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry, on commentary duties for the BBC, called the incident “scary” and admitted: “I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.”

The protesters were held backstage by tournament security officials until the police arrived.

South Yorkshire Police later confirmed two people had been arrested and remained in custody.

“Two people were detained after protestors gained entry to The Crucible earlier this evening (Monday 17 April),” the force said in a statement.

“A 30-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. Both are in police custody.”