Play was suspended at the World Championship after a protester vandalised table one and a second person tried to attach themselves to table two, BBC Sport reported.
Robert Milkins and Joe Perry were playing their first-round match at the time of the incident.
A man climbed on to their table and covered it in an orange powder.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen and China’s Fan Zhengyi were also in action and escorted from the arena.
Referee Olivier Marteel helped prevent a female protester from getting on table one and they were removed from the auditorium by security staff.
Both matches are expected to resume later on Monday evening and master of ceremonies Rob Walker was seen hoovering the table in a bid to get play back under way as quickly as possible.
Speaking on the BBC Red Button, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry said: “I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.
“It is scary. Wow! You just hope the cloth can be recovered from that. It caught us all by surprise and then this happens.
“For me, straight away as a snooker player I am thinking: ‘Is the table recoverable?’ We don’t know what that is on the table.”
