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Two men have been charged with criminal trespass after their protest at the U.S. Open Thursday night.
Gregory Schwedock, 35, of New York City, and 50-year-old Shayok Mukhopadhyay, of White Plains, New York, were arrested for the protest. Mukhopadhyay was also charged with disorderly conduct.
Mukhopadhyay glued his feet to the ground at Arthur Ashe Stadium, contributing to a 49-minute match delay.
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An audience member yells at protesters as they demonstrate at a match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova during the women’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The protest occurred during the second set of the women’s semifinal match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova.
Four protesters were taken into custody, and it’s unclear why two of them have not been charged. However, the two who were not charged have reportedly been given notices that they are banned from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
U.S. Open tournament referee Jake Gardner entered the court during the Gauff-Muchova match as security entered the stands to remove the protesters.
Both Gauff and Muchova went back to the locker room while officials intervened.
There was an increased police presence at the U.S. Open Friday, including undercover officers, for the men’s semifinals matches.
Protesters demonstrate at a match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova during the women’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
US OPEN PROTESTER WHO GLUED HIS FEET TO FLOOR SAYS NYPD TOOK HIM TO PSYCH WARD AFTER HIS ARREST
The climate group Extinction Rebellion took responsibility for the protest. The group’s New York chapter released a statement saying there is “no tennis on a dead planet.”
“Today’s action highlights the neglect of the climate and ecological breakdown by governments and corporations,” the group said. “The group emphasizes that the present socioeconomic system can’t protect people from the crises to come because its very structure creates these crises and then ignores them.
“The extremely short-term incentives of our key institutions — corporations and governments, which respectively function on quarterly profits and periodic elections, disregard the long-term dangers to our survival. This system is committed to stealing from future generations to sustain a lifestyle that primarily benefits the few (the so-called ‘one percent’).”
Protesters disrupt a women’s singles semifinal match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova at the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Sept. 7, 2023, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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Gauff won the match to advance to her first U.S. Open final, which will be played Saturday.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
