Pro-Palestine protester halts Australian Open with leaflet demo as Britain's Cameron Norrie watches on with bemusement

22 January 2024, 09:37

Cameron Norrie's tight game against Alexander Zverev was disrupted as a pro-Palestine protest brought the Australian Open to a halt.

A woman wearing a facemask and sunglasses threw leaflets onto the court, forcing ball boys to scramble to clear them as spectators booed her.

Two fans then escorted her off the Margaret Court Arena to applause.

Security was in the court but they did not immediately appear to haul the protester away.

Norrie, Britain's No1 and last hope down under this year, had taken Zverev to the fifth set in the fourth round of the tournament.

He was hoping to get through to the quarter finals for the first time but the sixth seed beat him after a four hour contest ended in match tie break.

But Norrie and his German opponent were left bemused as they watched the protester throw her leaflets.

Some bore the phrases "war crimes and genocide" and "free Palestine".

Read more: Gaza death toll surpasses 25,000 as Israel continues offensive - resulting in one of the deadliest days of war so far

"While you're watching tennis, bombs are dropping on Gaza," they said.

"Australia is a close ally of Israel. Australia is complicit in war crimes and genocide."

Her protest came as Hamas's health ministry said more than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliation for the October 7 massacre.

Hamas has claimed two thirds are women and children, though it does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its counts.

Previously, Wimbledon was targeted by protesters - though this was during Just Stop Oil's campaign to focus on major sporting events.

The eco-demonstrators were blamed for queues that went on for hours as security tried to stop them smuggling in orange powder and cables to tie themselves to the courts.

Some spectators even failed to see the games they had paid for as they got caught up in the precautions.