More than 100 protesters broke into the construction site of a planned Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam on Friday, climbing a crane and setting off flares in the most dramatic action yet in a growing European campaign against the energy-hungry buildings that power the artificial intelligence boom.
Dutch police said they detained between 150 and 200 people on suspicion of trespassing after demonstrators cut through a gate at the site in the Sloterdijk district, in the west of the city. Some climbed a construction crane and hung banners, while others clashed with officers. Police escorted activists off the site by late afternoon, although some remained into the evening, according to local reports.
The site is being developed by Pure Data Centres Group, which plans to invest more than $1 billion in a 78-megawatt facility with Microsoft as its sole tenant. The plans call for three towers, each 85 metres tall. The project has become a lightning rod in a city that has moved to restrict new data-centre construction, and campaigners say the finished building would use as much electricity as every home in Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam action opened two days of coordinated protests under the banner “Stop Dirty Data Centres”, with demonstrations and other actions planned in 15 European countries, including Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy, France and Britain. Campaigners are demanding a moratorium on large data-centre developments, arguing they consume vast amounts of electricity and water while delivering few local jobs.
Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the Amsterdam demonstration. Organisers said hundreds took part; a Reuters witness put the number who entered the site at about 100, while the protest group Geef Tegengas, whose name translates as Push Back, said about 500 people had entered. One campaigner told local broadcaster AT5 the occupation was intended to stop construction.
Microsoft said it was aware of the demonstration and respected people’s right to protest peacefully, but did not condone unlawful actions that endangered public safety. Pure Data Centres asked those on site to leave and engage in dialogue about the development.
The protest comes as the backlash against data centres spreads on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, Democrats who swept last week’s midterm elections campaigned on curbing data-centre expansion, and in Europe campaigners say the Amsterdam action is only the start.
Sources: Associated Press; Bloomberg; TBS News.
