 "Greta Thunberg was detained by the Dutch police during a protest. Source: Reuters")
Dutch police detained climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters on Saturday after they blocked a main road in The Hague during a demonstration against fossil fuel subsidies. Thunberg, along with members of the Extinction Rebellion environmental group, was seen sitting in a bus awaiting further action as police continued to arrest participants.
The demonstration saw Thunberg and hundreds of protesters march from the centre of the Dutch city to an area adjacent to the A12 arterial highway, a site of prior protests by Extinction Rebellion where activists previously shut down traffic. Despite the group’s attempt to access the highway, police, some mounted on horseback, prevented their entry, warning that force might be used if the protesters attempted to breach the roadway.
The demonstrators, waving Extinction Rebellion flags and carrying signs demanding an end to fuel subsidies, were locked in a standoff with police. Eventually, some protesters found an alternative path and obstructed a significant road near the highway which connects The Hague to Utrecht.
“It’s important to demonstrate today because we are living in a state of planetary emergency,” Thunberg told AFP.
An earlier arrest was made as police detained a protester and transported them to a waiting van.
Despite significant support from the Dutch parliament and the public for reducing fossil fuel subsidies, activists criticised the delay in implementation, pointing out that plans might not take effect until 2030 or even 2035. Extinction Rebellion hit out at the Dutch government’s inertia in the face of the ecological crisis, stating, “Meanwhile the ecological crisis continues to rage and the country’s outgoing cabinet pretends that we have all the time in the world, while the crisis is now.”
The statement, published on X (formerly Twitter), indicated that the protest was a strategy to influence Dutch government policy ahead of a forthcoming debate on fossil subsidies scheduled for June.
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More ShortsWith inputs from AFP