‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters were subjected to a barrage of jeers and boos after they set off air horns and confetti cannons at an opera performance in the United Kingdom on Thursday.
A group of three protesters started shouting about oil and gas roughly one hour into a performance of Poulenc’s three-act opera Dialogues des Carmélites at the Glyndebourne Festival on Thursday, interrupting the performance. An air horn was sounded by the group and glitter projected through the use of a ‘canon’.
The protesters were removed by ushers. According to the BBC, the police were called and yet decided not to send any officers, and no arrests were made. The show resumed after 20 minutes, one attendee wrote on social media, saying the performers needed time to “compose themselves” after the shock.
Just Stop Oil tried to make light of the protest, writing the production they interrupted “featuring numerous characters condemned to death. Sound familiar?”. Yet the group did so without mentioning the events fictionalised within the opera were the deaths of martyrs to a radical and violent revolution, themes which perhaps suit their hardline agenda less well.
Attendees of the opera production made their feelings known, with video from the auditorium making the chorus of boos, jeers, and shouts of ‘disgrace’ drowning out the protesters as they try to shout slogans about oil.
While green extremists probably inconvenience the greatest number of people through their persistent traffic-blocking protests, they have come to the attention of audiences worldwide with their attacks on works of art. Most noted among them are activists glueing themselves to famous paintings and throwing soup on them.
The group defends its actions, arguing attacking art is — in their view — much less bad than attacking the environment, and says valuable works of art are displayed behind glass, protecting them from soup splash.
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