Extinction Rebellion planning Amsterdam A10 ring road blockade over ING fossil fuel funding

Extinction Rebellion (XR) announced plans to block a section of the A10 ring road in Amsterdam to protest against ING's funding of the fossil fuel industry. The activist group will block the A10 near Amstelveenseweg at the iconic Infinity building where the bank's headquarters was formerly located.

"Extinction Rebellion will not release the A10 until ING stops financing climate disruption," the organization wrote in a statement. It was not immediately clear if XR intends to block the A10 on a daily basis, similar to the daily blockade of the A12 in The Hague during a four-week period at the end of the summer. "We will basically stay on December 30 for as long as it lasts. If we are removed, we will see what we do next," an XR spokesperson told reporters during a press conference on Friday in front of the bank's current headquarters in Amsterdam-Zuidoost.

ING has not had a presence in the building since 2014. The Infinity building shares nicknames with the Dutch words for shoe, De Schoen, and a small handheld vacuum cleaner, De Kruimeldief. Formerly known as ING House, the building in the Zuidaas is still owned by ING.

"Since 2021, Extinction Rebellion has been taking peaceful action against ING's fossil financing policy, but so far without results. Climate disasters are occurring at a rapid pace, with 20,000 children having to flee extreme weather every day," Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Let de Jong wrote. "Yet ING only pursues one thing: profit for its shareholders on the backs of innocent people."

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said that there is a fundamental right to protest, but added that right is not without limits. She said that she would discuss the planned protests with the climate activists.

XR previously issued an ultimatum to ING, demanding that the bank immediately put an end to its provision of financial services for the fossil fuel industry. The deadline lapsed on Monday, the group said. "We will ensure that the whole of the Netherlands knows what ING is doing. Stop fossil financing!" De Jong stated.

The organization plans to bring in supporters who helped organize 35 separate blockades on the A12 in The Hague, including the daily protests from September 9 through October 5. Those protests were to demand that the national government stop subsidizing fossil fuel projects, and were stopped after members of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, passed a motion to phase out the subsidies.

"Three-fourths of Dutch people now support phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and no less than a third even support stopping them immediately, as XR demands," the organization claimed.