Hundreds of climate activists blocked a major highway running through The Hague on Saturday, calling for an end to the Netherlands’ billion-euro fossil fuel subsidies in their “most disruptive” action to date.
The demonstration organized by the group Extinction Rebellion (XR) coincided with the police strike over pensions.
While some police officers on bicycles monitored the demonstrations in case of emergency, they did not intervene to break up the demo.
On a sunny early autumn afternoon, the protests drew a peaceful crowd, with some pitching tents on the tarmac and sitting in the street playing cards.
They held up banners that read ‘turn off fossil fuels’, ‘people and climate over profits’ and ‘if we can destroy the world, then we can save it’.
Loudspeakers blared speeches, slogans and blasts of music, including ‘The Final Countdown’ from Europe.
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Protesters plastered XR and “end fossil fuel subsidies” logos on the highway as a group of elderly people wearing “Climate Grandfathers” shirts handed out leaflets.
“Raise our voices”
Isabelle, a 25-year-old union worker who declined to give her last name, told AFP: “I think it’s important to keep raising our voices because this is a cause that matters so much.”
“It’s an incredibly good atmosphere. People are having fun. There’s singing, there’s dancing. We’re having a good time fighting for our cause.”
Many of the activists had staged a week-long march from Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands that culminated in a protest on the A12 motorway serving The Hague.
The XR group said some planned to take advantage of the absence of police to camp overnight in the highway tunnels.
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“We will continue to pay back until the subsidies are removed,” said XR spokeswoman Rozemarijn van ‘t Einde, adding that they amount to between 39.7 and 46.4 billion euros ($44.0-51.4 billion) a year.
The XR group regularly targets the A12 motorway and police often arrest hundreds of protesters.
“The ban will be the most disruptive since the first ban on July 6, 2022,” the team said.
“The severity of the climate and ecological crisis justifies the additional inconvenience.”
Dutch Justice Minister David van Wel said the police “always act in emergencies, even during work stoppages”, so they are not concerned about public safety.
He said it was “a bit ironic” that activists were urging the authorities to ensure their safety, given that they were speaking out against what they called disproportionate and heavy-handed policing.
Source: AFP