Tuesday’s Champions League match between Basel and Schalke
was halted when protesters abseiled down the main stand and unfurled a huge
banner in support of Greenpeace.
The banner read “Gazprom, Don’t Foul the Arctic” and the
hashtag “FreeTheArctic30.”
The incident was particularly embarrassing for the watching
UEFA president Michel Platini, as Gazprom not only sponsor Bundesliga outfit
Schalke, but are also an official partner of the Champions League.
The Arctic 30 refers to the activists Russian authorities
arrested in September, who were protesting Gazprom’s drilling in the ocean.
Officers allegedly attacked the activists while holding them at gunpoint before
they were held prisoner at embassies throughout the country, according to
Jonathan Brown of The Independent.
The match was delayed for five minutes while security staff removed the activists from the premises and took down their banner.
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