Hundreds of climate activists from Extinction Rebellion started blocking the A12 in The Hague again on Saturday afternoon. The action is intended to demand an end to fossil subsidies for large companies that would amount to “up to 30 billion euros a year”.
The protest will be held on the road between the temporary House of Representatives and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. Earlier in the day, the Marechaussee had closed the path that runs past the House of Representatives, so that activists could not pass. Around noon, the riot police stopped the demonstrators at the A12 so that they could not enter the tunnel, reports ANP news agency. The water cannon would also have been used.
Large numbers of police units have been present around the Utrechtsebaan since Saturday morning. As a preventive measure, a lane of the highway was already closed, and a group of riot police had lined up in the median. Seven hundred activists were arrested at an earlier climate protest near the A12 in March.
Extinction Rebellion is critical of, among other things, the failure to fulfill the promise made in 2013 by the Dutch government to end subsidies that damage the environment by 2020 at the latest, together with other EU countries. Despite that promise, the fossil fuel industry is still financed today through government subsidies.
Before the start of the protest, Extinction Rebellion estimated the number of possible participants at around 3,000 people. That is the same number that also participated in the blockade on the A12 in March. The activists carry flags and signs with texts such as “fossil is fossil” and “this is an emergency”. It is now the seventh blockade of the A12.
Earlier this week, the court in The Hague lifted the area ban of five climate activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) for the A12 in The Hague. In his motivation, the judge pointed out that the area ban could not prevent the previous demonstration from taking place on the A12 and that that protest was also peaceful. This allowed the XR members to participate in another planned blockade this afternoon.