According to lawyer Otto, following believes that Schiphol is playing for his own judge. “The demonstration at Schiphol was completely peaceful,” he tells ANP. “As a punishment, XR protesters are no longer allowed to fly through Schiphol. Schiphol is not allowed to do that.” He thinks it is completely ‘excessive’ that the ban has been imposed for five or ten years.
Area prohibitions are normally imposed by the mayor, judge or public prosecutor, says the lawyer. “There are very strict conditions for this. Schiphol apparently wants to scare XR demonstrators to demonstrate at Schiphol in the future. Such a deterrent measure against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable.”
Saving points with flying
Activists from XR demonstrated in March at departure hall 2 and the KLM lounges behind the safety control. With the Flying Blue program from KLM, travelers can save points by flying. They can exchange those points for discounts or upgrades. XR says that in this way KLM ‘exorbitantly rewards a lot of flies’. “That this happens during a climate crisis is unheard of.”