The Amsterdam direct action, led by Geef Tegengas, involved demonstrators scaling a crane, lighting flares, and clashing with police who deployed teargas to manage the breach. Outside the perimeter, more than 100 environmental organizations joined coordinated protests that stretched across Bristol, Berlin, Warsaw, and Zagreb to demand formal pauses on new construction. Activists specifically targeted Microsoft over its contracts with foreign military and immigration agencies alongside broader resource concerns. Both Microsoft and property owner Pure Data Centres responded by condemning the hazardous trespassing while defending their security protocols.
Key points
Environmental coalitions are organizing internationally to halt datacentre growth driven…: Environmental coalitions are organizing internationally to halt datacentre growth driven by rapid artificial intelligence adoption.
Campaigners are focusing heavily on the excessive drinking water and energy required to s…: Campaigners are focusing heavily on the excessive drinking water and energy required to sustain modern tech facilities.
European direct actions are linking corporate digital infrastructure directly to controve…: European direct actions are linking corporate digital infrastructure directly to controversial military and government immigration contracts.
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Activists have stormed the site of a Microsoft datacentre being built in Amsterdam, as the backlash to the social and environmental harms of the AI boom spreads across Europe.
Protesters from Geef Tegengas, a Dutch direct action group, clashed with police while breaking into a construction site at Westpoort Amsterdam, where some members climbed a crane, lit flares and tied helium balloons to equipment.
The action comes amid Europe-wide resistance to the rapid expansion of energy-hungry AI, with more than 100 groups involved in a two-day series of protests to demand moratoria on the construction of new datacentres.
The break-in at the Dutch site, where protesters hung banners objecting to Microsoft’s services to the Israeli military and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was separate from the pan-European “Stop Dirty Data Centres” campaign, which targeted the same site but whose affiliated members stayed outside the perimeter fence.
“The police attempted to prevent [the occupation] and arrest protesters, but were unable to prevent it and force was used,” the police said in a statement to NOS, a Dutch public broadcaster. “An…
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