Over 300 XR activists arrested at A12 blockade, highway reopened

Police arrested hundreds of climate protesters on the A12 highway in The Hague on Saturday afternoon. Twenty of them were arrested for obstruction and vandalism, such as spraying graffiti, and 350 for disobeying the law on public demonstrations, police said. The latter group was released, and the other 20 XR activists are still in custody.

The highway, which has been blocked since noon on Saturday, was cleared in the evening. At around 7 p.m., all the activists were removed from the road and put on buses. They were released at another location. The road was reopened after 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Extinction Rebellion reported on X that the police set up water cannons in the tunnel. "Completely absurd, disproportionate, and dangerous too!" according to the climate action group.

Furthermore, police used a grinder to free XR protesters who had tied themselves to fences. According to an ANP reporter, the officers also used hoof sticks to push a person's wrist backwards.

The police protested for an early retirement scheme until 5 p.m. Until then, the police did not intervene in the climate protest.

XR said in response to the police's absence that "the choice of the police to not be present at the A12 blockade shows that they themselves also realize that the usual large-scale police deployment is disproportionate and unnecessary."

Extinction Rebellion activists demonstrated on Saturday for an immediate end to the annual fossil fuel subsidies of up to 46.4 billion euros. "The government subsidizes fossil fuel major polluters with tens of billions of euros every year instead of investing in facilities that are really needed, such as good education for everyone, affordable healthcare, and free public transport. (...) By maintaining fossil subsidies, this cabinet is partly responsible for this. We will keep coming back until the subsidies are abolished," XR spokesperson Rozemarijn van 't Einde said in a press release.