Airlines call it “deplorable” that climate protestors breached Schiphol Airport; Arrest total rises to 300

Airlines operating in the Netherlands said it was "deplorable" that climate demonstrators were able to enter the secured Schiphol Airport site on Saturday. "This must not happen again,” said Marnix Fruitema, who heads the airline interest group BARIN.

"An airport must be a well-protected area; a place where you can only enter with specific permission and a pass," argued Fruitema. "Schiphol, together with the competent authorities, will have to carefully analyze how it was possible for so many people to enter a restricted area relatively easily, in part by mapping out the weak spots." However, he emphasized that he understands that this is an "unfortunate incident.”

Demonstrators were present at Schiphol all day on Saturday. About four hundred activists from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion sawed through a fence with an angle grinder and entered the Schiphol-Oost grounds, where smaller aircraft handle corporate and other private flights. Some of the activists chained themselves to a number of aircraft. Others cycled around on the tarmac.

Earlier in the day there were also climate protests at the public portion of the airport, including at Schiphol Plaza. However, the use of the angle-grinding tool caught the Marechaussee by surprise. The military branch’s police units were dispatched when it became clear that a large group of activists were on their way to Schiphol-Oost, but the demonstrators moved quickly. They pulled the grinder from out of a truck and cut through the fence. "The surveillance units were then overrun by hundreds of protesters," the spokesperson said, describing the action as "a sort of storming of the Capitol."

Greenpeace called the latter comparison "out of all proportion" in a response, because their demonstration was "completely peaceful.” The Marechaussee spokesperson acknowledged that his choice of words was not the best, saying he wanted to make a comparison with a “storming.”

Fruitema wondered to what extent these kinds of actions "can count on the support of the average Dutch person." He said, "These actions seem to be focused on the activists themselves rather than against Schiphol."

A KLM spokesperson said the Dutch airline is awaiting a report from Schiphol about the incident. "It is too early to make judgements on that right now," she said.

EasyJet plans to enter into talks with Schiphol "to understand the lessons they have learned from last weekend," a spokesperson said. She added that the airline respects peaceful protest and noted that easyJet agrees with the need to act against climate change. However, "such action must not violate safety rules or disrupt passengers' travel plans."