The action group Extinction Rebellion blocked an intersection at Amsterdam’s Zuidas on Friday morning. In doing so, the activists are ignoring the previously issued ban on this by mayor Femke Halsema.
The police are present in large numbers to remove the approximately 150 climate activists from the intersection. They are loaded one by one into regional buses, which move them to a remote location in Amsterdam-Noord. Whenever the arrest team takes an activist along, it is greeted with cheers from the other activists. Incidentally, the eviction does not really go smoothly: some activists are glued to each other and have to be soaked off with cola, others are chained together.
Despite the increasing corona infections in the capital, Mayor Femke Halsema decided on Thursday that the demonstration of the climate group could continue under certain conditions. One of those conditions was that no roads or intersections would be blocked. Extinction Rebellion had previously announced that it would not adhere to this. Civil disobedience is the action group’s strategy to draw attention to the climate crisis.
So Friday morning groups of activists stormed the crossroads at the Zuidas from various directions. With slogans such as “Reduce the Zuidas” and “Planet for money”, they agitate against the lobby of the companies established here and against the billions of corona support for polluting companies.
“I cannot understand that companies like KLM get millions in support, without real sustainability conditions, and that there is only one clapping for healthcare,” said 30-year-old spokesman Chaja Merk. According to co-activist Judith Biezen, with her back on the asphalt, the corona crisis is not being used sufficiently to change society in a sustainable way. “I’m here because I want a future.” “Corona sucks,” said another, “but the climate crisis is even worse.” Incidentally, almost all activists wear a face mask.
According to Extinction Rebellion, more demonstrations will follow next week. The action week follows almost a year after the last “week of the rebellion”. Then the activists occupied the crossroads in front of the Rijksmuseum.