The Open organisers are engaging with protest groups in an attempt to prevent disruptions at Hoylake in July… after a wave of chaos that saw activists storm the Grand National and snooker’s World Championship
- Organisers of The Open are talking with protesters to mitigate risks of disruption
- Protesters caused at both the Grand National and snooker’s world championship
- Such events have raised concerns of similar incidents happening this summer
Organisers of The Open are engaging with protest groups to mitigate the risks of disruption this summer.
There has been mass chaos caused at the Grand National and snooker’s world championships in recent days, which raises the possibility of similar at major British sporting staples such as Wimbledon and The Open.
The R&A, who run The Open, confirmed on Wednesday there will be a record 260,000 fans at Hoylake in July, but similar to the London Marathon they have attempted to get on the front foot by entering discussions with protest groups.
It could lead to designated areas for some protesters, but would not necessarily mitigate against the challenges presented to the Crucible where a larger impact was sought by Just Stop Oil.
Rhodri Price, the championship’s director of operations, said: ‘If there is communication that they look to attend, then we have certainly in the past engaged (with a view to providing) an area to say what their message is in a controlled environment. They can then communicate their messaging without disrupting the championship.’
Organisers of The Open are engaging with protest groups to mitigate the risks of disruption
There has been mass chaos caused at the Grand National and snooker’s world championships
The recent events have raised concerns of similar incidents happening at major British sporting staples such as Wimbledon and The Open this summer
Mike Woodcock, the R&A director of communications, added: ‘Every year security is a big priority for us and our command structure with a wide variety of security agencies and police, local authority and so on, that are involved in that process.
‘Every year we’re looking to see what the situation is and assess any potential issues, threats, problems that might arise. It won’t be any different this year.
‘We’ll obviously be conscious of what’s what’s happened in recent days to make sure that it doesn’t doesn’t recurrent back here in July.’
