The hundreds of demonstrators who had gained access to the site of steel producer Tata Steel in Velsen-Noord have left the site peacefully, ANP reports. According to a police spokesperson, no arrests were made during the demonstration, which lasted about 6 hours in total.
Greenpeace activists had gathered at the plant on Saturday, saying they wanted to prevent the coal supply to the site for as long as possible. The demonstrators are demanding that the company shut down “the most sickening parts” of its blast furnaces. To this end, several hundred Greenpeace demonstrators entered the site around 11 a.m. Saturday morning. Outside the fences, a handful of protesters from Extinction Rebellion, which was campaigning at the factory at the same time as Greenpeace, chained themselves to a railway line leading to the factory’s main building. At that protest, the activist (punk) band Hang Youth, among others, performed.
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On Friday, the mayor of Velsen-North Frank Dales announced an emergency ordinance, which prohibited passers-by from carrying objects with which they could gain (illegal) access to the site. He called entering the factory site “potentially (life) dangerous”. Before the demonstration the mayor visited the activists, to talk to them about an orderly course of the protests. On Friday night, hundreds of demonstrators camped near the site, where they set up a camp to “prepare” activists for the next day’s action.
No arrests were made at the protests. However, some chained demonstrators were released and by order services “administratively moved” to nearby Driehuis, after which they were free to go. Just after 6 p.m., Greenpeace called a halt to the action, after which the site was peacefully abandoned. Our point has been made, the organization later stated to the ANP news agency. The organization does state that if there is no response from politicians or the factory, it will return for further actions.