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A Just Stop Oil protester who covered a snooker table in orange paint bringing a World Championship match to a halt is a full-time student who was jailed last year, glued himself to a Turner painting and opposes having children ‘on moral grounds’, MailOnline can reveal today.
Edred Whittingham, 25, is a Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Exeter University, was sent to prison last year for blockading the Kingsbury Oil Terminal.
Describing his time in HMP Birmingham as ‘perfectly tolerable’, he said afterwards that he ended up watching the Queen’s funeral to pass the time. Whittingham was also arrested after he glued his hand to a painting at Manchester Art Gallery in July of last year in another Just Stop Oil protest – one of six arrests in 12 months.
Despite being an undergraduate, he crowdfunds to support his eco-protests, urging people to donate by saying: ‘I have been arrested six times in one year and have spent a week in prison. Help me stay afloat and stop this! My living costs are quite low, and any support you can offer means I can focus on my activism rather than needing to get a job in a pub!’. There are calls for Exeter University to throw him out.
Whittingham’s website begs for one-off donations but also offers four levels of monthly subscriptions to pay for beer, phone bills, weekly groceries and ‘exclusive posts’ from his protests, ranging from £5 per month to £50.
The titles of these sponsorships make clear that the cash will be used for crime. Level 1 membership is called ‘Highway Obstruction’, Level 2 is ‘Aggravated Trespass’, Level 3 is ‘Criminal Damage’ and Level 4, the most expensive, is called ‘Public Nuisance Conspiracy’.
Just Stop Oil protester Edred Whittingham, a 25-year-old Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Exeter University, tossed orange paint over a snooker table during the World Championship before being dragged away
The eco-zealot threw orange powder paint on the table, interrupting playlast night
The eco-zealot threw orange powder paint on the table, interrupting play on Monday evening
Mr Whittingham also targeted Manchester Art Gallery with Just Stop Oil in July last year
He was pictured later that day with his mouth open as he was carried away by three police officers by Kingsbury Oil Terminal
After that demonstration he spent three days in custody, Just Stop Oil said.
The eco-zealot has also sensationally claimed he is opposed to having children ‘on moral grounds’ as he ‘can’t guarantee that there will be a habitable planet for them to grow up into’.
He told GB News: ‘I think it’s the moral choice, given the circumstances we are facing.’
He added that he thought it was morally wrong to have children ‘If we don’t sort out the climate crisis’.
The eco warrior has two brothers and a sister and is originally from Cambridge.
One of his brothers, Hannes, is a senior data scientist at AstraZeneca who gave five per cent of his salary last year to a climate fund finding against global warming.
The brothers’ sister, Severn, counts a youth Extinction Rebellion group and a Marxist festival among her liked pages on Facebook.
On Monday evening Edred caused a World Championship snooker match to be cancelled after he poured paint on one of the tables.
Just Stop Oil said the protest wasn’t aimed at snooker and the event had been chosen so that ‘millions’ would see the protest, which was received with boos and jeers from the crowd.
Play was immediately suspended at the event as cleaners brought vacuum cleaners into the arena and master of ceremonies Rob Walker was among those helping to sweep up the mess.
Snooker fans jeered and booed the male activist as he interrupted play. One irritated fan shouted: ‘Get him off!’
South Yorkshire Police said a 30-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and are in police custody.
Whittingham’s website begs for one-off donations but also offers four levels of monthly subscriptions to pay for beer, phone bills, weekly groceries and ‘exclusive posts’ from his protests, ranging from £5 per month to £50 – all with incendiary titles
Security dragged him from the table and he was reportedly later arrested, according to Just Stop Oil
Earlier this year he appeared on GB News (pictured), where he said having children was ‘morally wrong’ because of the climate crisis
Edred Whittingham (pictured) was previously arrested after he took part in a Just Stop Oil protest blocking the entrance to the Kingsbury Oil Terminal near Birmingham on September 14, 2022. He was later jailed
The eco-zealot was pictured handing out leaflets to passersby at the same event
The force said in a statement: ‘Two people were detained after protesters gained entry to The Crucible.
‘A 30-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. Both are in police custody.’
The affected table will be re-covered overnight.
It is the second time in three days that a major international sporting event has been disrupted, after 118 people were arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale the perimeter fence at the Grand National.
Former world champion Stephen Hendry, on commentary duties for the BBC, said: ‘I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.
‘It is scary. Wow! You just hope the cloth can be recovered from that. It caught us all by surprise and then this happens.
‘For me, straight away as a snooker player I am thinking: ‘Is the table recoverable?’ We don’t know what that is on the table.’
The two protesters were Margaret Reid, 52, a former museum professional from Kendal, Cumbria, and Edred Whittingham, a 25-year-old Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Exeter University.
Ms Reid said: ‘I did not take this action lightly, but I cannot remain a passive spectator while our government knowingly pushes us down a path to destruction. They are giving handouts of £236million-per-week of our money, to the most profitable industry on earth, during a cost of living crisis. I can no longer justify watching from the side lines.’
‘I am angry and heartbroken that I have found myself in a position where taking this sort of disruptive action is the only way to get heard.’
Security guards rushed to the table and grabbed the eco-protester by his left arm before removing him from the table
Mr Whittingham, 25, said: ‘I don’t want to be disrupting something that people enjoy, but we’re facing an extremely grave situation.
‘Europe is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. We’re seeing mass crop failure right now. We’re facing mass starvation, billions of refugees and civilisational collapse if this continues.
‘We can’t continue to sit back and act as if everything’s OK.’
