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The environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil were involved in two separate incidents last night as they interrupted the BBC’s First Night of the Proms and Channel 4’s The Last Leg.
A duo mounted London’s Royal Albert Hall stage and briefly unfurled an orange banner on Friday.
They were met with boos and jeers from some members of the audience at the classical music festival, before being removed by security staff.
Just Stop Oil has targeted a number of notable events this year, including the Ashes, Wimbledon and the Chelsea Flower Show.
💬 One of those disrupting the #BBCProms, Kate Logan, a 38-year-old mum of two from London, said:
“Many years ago, I sang with a youth choir at the Albert Hall, never imagining I would one day disrupt a performance here to draw attention to the planetary crisis we find ourselves… pic.twitter.com/OULUVrLwDc
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 14, 2023
In a tweet, Just Stop Oil said their supporters “set off confetti cannons and sounded air horns, demanding the UK government immediately halt all new oil and gas consents and licences. They attempted to address the audience before being forcibly removed”.
It added that the action, which lasted for about five minutes shortly after the interval, targeted the event because of the BBC’s “underwhelming coverage of the climate emergency”.
The Proms opening night featured a new translation of Jean Sibelius’s Snöfrid, narrated by The Crown actress Lesley Manville, and a new work by Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak, called Let The Light In.
Just Stop Oil protesters also interrupted a live recording of the Channel 4 programme The Last Leg last night- with one of its infamous activists, William John Ward, who stormed a Wimbledon match this week, wrapping his arms around the host Adam Hills.
Three eco-activists wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts ran onto the set before handing Hills and his fellow comics Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker, their orange branded Hi Vis vests.
Just Stop Oil just interrupted The Last Leg, seconds after they started broadcasting live. pic.twitter.com/N3vKwsUs4g
— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) July 14, 2023
In response to the Proms incident, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer wrote on social media: “My message is this: Leave people to enjoy the events they love, and stop damaging your own cause.”
During the Proms programme and before the protest, BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Georgia Mann remarked on how close members of the audience were to the performers at the Royal Albert Hall.
“Somehow it surprises me every summer when we sit here from this vantage point just how close the Prommers are to the artists – I’ve said before – touching distance,” she said.
Six thousand people were gathered in the venue for the sell-out event.
