(The Hague) Dutch police announced on Saturday evening that they had made more than 1,500 arrests during an action by the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion in The Hague to protest against fossil fuel subsidies.
It was the seventh action of the movement on the Utrechtsebaan section of the A12 motorway in the center of The Hague, located close to the Parliament and the main ministries, but never so many people had been arrested, according to the Dutch news agency ANP.
According to a spokesman for Extinction Rebellion, the demonstration gathered some 7,000 people on this sunny Saturday afternoon.
PHOTO PHIL NIJHUIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Police used water cannons to disperse protesters.
Targeted by a police water cannon to force them to leave the scene, several activists had provided a swimsuit and danced under the drops.
Hundreds of police were deployed to ensure public order during the demonstration, which began around noon.
Police said in a statement that they “immediately and repeatedly asked the activists to end their action and leave”, adding that those “who did not have been arrested”.
“In total, 1,579 people were arrested”, the vast majority of whom were quickly released, and “40 will be prosecuted” in particular for vandalism and contempt, the police said, adding that one of the activists had bitten a policeman.
“Popular support”
“Climate change is an ongoing crisis and we know the cause of it and it is still subsidized by our government, it must stop,” Anne Kerevers, 31, a doctoral student at the University of Amsterdam, told AFP. .
Several Dutch celebrities have already participated in the actions of Extinction Rebellion on this road to The Hague, which often lead to clashes with the police. In March, nearly 700 activists were arrested, according to the ANP.
On Saturday, actress Carice Van Houten, 46, particularly known for her role as Melisandre in the series Game Of Thrones, was part of the militant group. She was arrested but according to her agent, she was able to return to her home in the evening, reported the ANP.
In a video she posted on Instagram, the actress is seen wearing a red poncho, getting wet from the water cannon.
“We come back every month, or every two months, and each time the number of demonstrators doubles,” said Aaron Pereira, 31, spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.
“There is broad popular support for real climate action and people are realizing that the government is actively opposing it by subsidizing the fossil fuel industry,” he told AFP.
“Blocking a road like this has been recognized by the European Court of Human Rights as a legitimate form of protest,” he added.
The Brussels police have just been ordered to compensate twelve Extinction Rebellion activists arrested and then handcuffed at the end of 2019 during a collage of posters, before undergoing strip searches in the cell.
At the same time, Germany has cracked down on the tough actions of environmentalists. The German police indeed carried out a vast operation on Wednesday against the radical environmental movement “Last Generation”, author of several actions of controversial civil disobedience and which called in reaction to “protest marches”.
At the end of April, two activists from the environmental organization Just Stop Oil were sentenced to up to three years in prison for the blocking of an important axis near London, exceptionally severe in the United Kingdom for this type of stock.