Wimbledon, Year's third Grand Slam Tennis tournament, is set to commence from July 3 amidst increasing incidents of Oil protestors intervening the sports events in the country. Keeping in mind the same, the All England Club has increased its security plans for Wimbledon in coordination with London police and other agencies.
Recently, on the opening day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's, the Just Stop Oil Protestors had barged into the stadium and attempted to spread orange powder on the pitch. However, they were stopped by the players in the middle with one of the protestors being carried away by England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow himself. Earlier, the England cricket team bus was also held up briefly by the protestor during the Test match against Ireland at Lord's.
There also have been several incidents of the protestors targetting Premier League soccer matches, the Premiership rugby final at Twickenham, and the world snooker championship in Sheffield this year, All England Club operations director Michelle Dite confirmed the development on Thursday stating that they have taken the advice from secutiry agencies head on and accordingly, have uplifted their security.
"Based on what has happened at other sporting events, and on the advice from our key partners, we have reviewed our security plans, which have now been uplifted for The Championships accordingly. We have plans in place to mitigate the risks working in partnership with specialist agencies and the Metropolitan Police and should an incident occur the appropriate specialist teams will respond," Dite said.
"The safety and security of all our players, colleagues and visitors is paramount. Throughout the year, we work closely with the Metropolitan Police and other relevant organizations to ensure that The Championships is as safe and secure as possible and that our plans and measures are commensurate with the threat level and prevailing risks," he added.
