1000 Climate Arrests in Netherlands

   Rebels in The Hague (The Netherlands) blocked the major A12 highway for the first time in 2024. The rebels in The Netherlands have protested on this highway before, numerous times with tens of thousands of people joining them. They blocked the highway to demand an end to all fossil fuel subsidies, the subsidies mostly consist of tax breaks for big polluting companies. The fossil fuel subsidies are around $42.8 to $50 billion every year, while only $12,7 billion is set apart to fight the climate crisis in 2024.
   The action started at 12pm as they walked towards the highway in four different marches all starting at a different point in the city. The first people walked onto the mostly empty highway around 1pm with police cordons trying to stop them. But the police couldn’t stop the thousands of activists from stepping foot on the highway. Besides the people who blocked the road there were also people supporting them from the sidelines on a field next to the beginning of the highway.

   The activists shouted slogans like “Jetten, shame, blood on your hands!” directed at the Rob Jetten, the Minister of Climate.
   But also the usual slogans like,
   “What do we want?”
   “Climate justice!”
   “When do we want it?
   “Now!”
   The activists also sang songs like the climate version of Bella Ciao.

   After 45 minutes the police started to arrest the peaceful activists. The police threatened with a water cannon, which has been used before at previous blockades, the police decided to not use it this time. Numerous activists also glued or cemented themselves onto the road to delay the arrests. Around a thousand activists got arrested after blocking the road for around 4 hours.
   This was the first A12 blockade since October 2023. In September of 2023 they blocked the highway everyday for almost a month. They decided to stop as a motion passed in the house of representatives that concluded that the government needed to make a plan on how to stop the fossil fuel subsidies. That plan hasn’t been presented yet after more than 4 months, which is the reason that they blocked the highway again.
   The protest was organized by Extinction Rebellion Netherlands and supported by numerous ngo’s like Fossil Free Netherlands.