Jan 27, 2023 at 9:34 PM
Action group Extinction Rebellion will hold a large demonstration on the A12 in The Hague on Saturday. The action was in the news this week when climate activists were arrested preventively on Thursday. Subsequently, there was a lot more support for the activists. This is what you can expect today.
Where and at what time will the demonstration take place?
According to the current schedule, the blockade will be created around noon. The activists do this by sitting on the floor on the Utrechtsebaan. That is the section of the A12 in The Hague that borders the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the temporary House of Representatives.
This year is the first time that Extinction Rebellion wants to occupy a highway. They did that six times last year. This led to many dozens of arrests at each blockade.
0:45 Play button
Why is the action group demonstrating?
With the blockade, Extinction Rebellion wants to draw attention to the climate. The action group demands that the Netherlands put an end to ‘fossil subsidies’. These are tax benefits that make it interesting for companies to work with fossil fuels (such as natural gas and oil). According to economists and activists, the Netherlands annually spends 17.3 billion euros on these subsidies. The cabinet speaks of 4.5 billion.
The activists point to the consequences for the climate: a lot of CO2 is released when fossil fuels are burned. And that in turn contributes to global warming. “We want to get rid of the subsidies, but that is not possible immediately,” said climate minister Rob Jetten on Friday.
Why are more people expected?
This has to do with a number of arrests made by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) on Thursday. Six members of the action group were arrested for sedition. They had called on people to participate in the action, which the Public Prosecution Service describes as “dangerous and disruptive”.
The arrests shocked other organizations, such as Greenpeace and the children’s aid organization Terre des Hommes. They believe that the arrests restrict the right to demonstrate. “This is a disproportionate action by the Public Prosecution Service,” wrote about forty organizations in a statement. “We see that climate activists are dealt with harder by the police and judiciary compared to other groups of protesters.”
The organizations therefore said they support the action of Extinction Rebellion. All directors will be present at the A12 on Saturday, but not on the highway itself. On the side they will protest for the right to demonstrate.
And what about the block itself?
Significantly more people are also expected there. According to the action group, about three hundred people were present at previous blockades. “That will now be about 1,300,” a spokesperson told NU.nl.
The six climate activists already arrested will not be present on Saturday. They are free again, but have been given an area ban: they are not allowed to go on or near the Utrechtsebaan in the near future.
The Public Prosecution Service and Extinction Rebellion met on Friday to discuss the highway blockade. According to both parties, that conversation had no effect on the planned protest action. “We only exchanged our views,” the OM reported after the conversation.
Image: ANP
Read more about:
Domestic Extinction Rebellion
:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/EP22X6GKFRAFRK43N6EEAQTUBA.jpg)
