SWING AND A MISS

U.S. Open Protesters Slapped With Criminal Trespass Charges

One of the men taken into custody glued his bare feet to the ground, the NYPD said.

Two men now face charges after derailing the U.S. Open semifinal between American Coco Gauff and Czech opponent Karolina Muchova Thursday to protest climate change, the NYPD told NBC News Friday. A spokesperson said Sayak Mukhopadhyay, 50, was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, and Gregory Schwedock, 35, was charged with criminal trespass. According to a statement from the U.S. Tennis Association, four protesters—who wore shirts saying “END FOSSIL FUELS” and shouted from the bleachers—disrupted the match, and one even “affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl.” One of the men taken into custody was behind the gluing fiasco, the NYPD spokesperson said. The spectacle delayed the game by nearly 50 minutes, and Gauff and Muchova left the court until play could resume. Environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion New York later took responsibility for the protest.