NYPD used ‘acetone’ to unglue the protester’s feet who caused a 50-minute delay during Coco Gauff’s semifinal match at US Open

Exclusive details reveal how NYPD managed to remove the protestor.

NYPD used ‘acetone’ to unglue the protester’s feet who caused a 50-minute delay during Coco Gauff’s semifinal match at US Open

Police trying to remove the protestor (Credits : @molly_mcelwee/X)

6th seed Coco Gauff managed to keep her nerves on a chaotic night session at the Arthur Ashe stadium on Friday. The American teen defeated the 10th seed Karolina Muchova 6-4,7-5 to book a spot in her first final at the US Open. This will be her second Grand Slam final appearance after reaching the final of the French Open in 2022.

The match was halted during the second set as protestors started chanting inside the court. A bunch of spectators in the upper tier of the Arthur Ashe stadium started shouting ‘End Fossil Fuel’. Gauff was leading the match 6-4, 1-0 and Muchova was getting ready to serve when the protestors took over. Despite the instructions from the referee, the protestors continued their chanting and caused a disruption. As a result, stewards had to be called-in to carry the protestors out of the stadium.

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But, one of the protestors glued his feet to the ground. This led to an extended delay which lasted about 50 minutes. NYPD officers were called on to the scene to clear the protestor. New details emerging from DailyMail.com have revealed that the NYPD cops raced to the stands with acetone to unglue the protestor’s feet from the ground.

FS Video

2 of the protesters were charged at the scene with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. The third protestor – a female – was not arrested at the scene.

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Coco Gauff speaks about the protests that disrupted her semi final match

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Coco Gauff at US Open (credits: USTA)

“I believe in climate change. I don’t know exactly what they were protesting, I 100% believe there are things we could do better. Would I prefer it not happening in my match? 100%. It is what it is.. moments like this are history defining moments. I wasn’t pissed at the protesters. I always speak about preaching what you believe in. It was done in a peaceful way. I can’t get too mad at it.. if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard I can’t really get upset at it,“ Gauff said talking about the protests in the post-match press conference.

Gauff was visibly frustrated by the delay caused due to the protests. Talking to her team on-court, Gauff said, “They said they’re on the phone negotiating… like this is a hostage situation.” Brad Gilbert asked Gauff to stay on the court and practice serves. Eventually, both the players went off-court until the protestor was moved out of the stadium.

“The crazy thing is that this morning I told myself: ‘I bet there is going to be a climate change protest in the final’. I didn’t think it would be in the semi-final,” she told ESPN after her match.

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