A protest in the stands forces play to stop in the US Open semifinals

Thursday at the US Open was busier than expected. The first women’s semi-final was being played, pitting Coco Gauff against Karolina Muchova, when play had to be interrupted suddenly.

As the players began the second game of the second set, four people stood at the top of the Arthur Ashe Court bleachers and They chanted “end fossil fuels.”

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Then the chair umpire decided to stop the game.after seeing tempers rise with protests from other members of the public who repeatedly shouted “let them go.”

Gauff and Muchova went to the locker room and The game was delayed for 50 minutesthe time it took for the police to appear in that area of ​​the stands.

When they arrived, three of the activists quietly left, but the fourth stuck his feet to the ground. It took several minutes for the police and medical services to remove him. before leading her away, with her hands cuffed behind her back.

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The ‘Extinction Rebellion’ movement claims responsibility for the action in a statement, explaining that “climate and ecological crises threaten everything on our planet, including sport.”

“We are not protesting against the tournament itself; we are not protesting against tennis (…) We are here because we need to stop this public event as a last resort to draw public attention to the climate emergency,” activist Shayok Mukhopadhyay said in the statement.

Gauff, who led 6-4, 1-0 at the time of the interruption, took the victory 6-4, 7-5 and will play in the grand final against Aryna Sabalenka, who staged an epic comeback against Madison Keys (0-6, 7-6, 7-6).