Several dozen demonstrators from Extinction Rebellion were taken away by the police from the ING office in the center of Eindhoven on Saturday afternoon. They protested against investments made in fossil fuels and the fossil industry in general. To emphasize their point, they had smeared the windows of the building with ‘oil’.
The police have cordoned off an area around the ING office with black fences to keep spectators at a distance. The demonstrators were then removed. The people who had barricaded themselves inside the office were subsequently arrested. The people who were outside the building have been sent away.
In about fifteen minutes the police put an end to the action. Just after five o’clock all the activists disappeared.
‘Oil’ on the windows
The Extinction Rebellion activists started their action at the beginning of the afternoon. In addition to ‘oil’ on the windows, ‘tame the lion’ graffiti was also sprayed on the ground. In reality it was not oil, but a mix of cornstarch with food coloring.
The climate organization Extinction Rebellion believes that the government should stop fossil subsidies, because investing in oil, coal and gas is ultimately bad for the environment. “But not only the government has a responsibility in this, banks also have that,” the activists say.
Investing in fossil industry
ING invests five billion annually in the fossil industry, which is a thorn in the side of the climate organization. Although the bank has already completed a few projects involving oil and gas extraction, this is happening too slowly, according to the climate demonstrators.