LONDON (Reuters) – Six “Just Stop Oil” activists who ran on to the track after an opening lap crash at last July’s British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone were convicted on Friday of causing a public nuisance.
The four men and two women, ranging in age between 22 and 47, will be sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on March 31 and were warned they could face imprisonment, British media reported.
Five of them ran on to the high-speed Wellington Straight after Alfa Romeo’s Chinese driver, Zhou Guanyu, crashed and halted the July 3 race.
While red flags were waved, cars were still driving back to the pit lane as marshals and police dragged the protesters away. A sixth protester was found in a car park with glue, cable ties and a Just Stop Oil banner.
All denied charges of conspiring with others to cause a public nuisance and causing a public nuisance. Prosecutors had said they had caused an immediate risk of serious harm to drivers and marshals as well as themselves.
Just Stop Oil wants Britain to stop all new oil and gas projects and has staged a number of protests including activists throwing soup over Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery last October.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Nick Macfie)
