THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Protesters storm a construction site for a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam on Friday, some climbed a crane and set off flares while others clashed with police, the latest action in a growing movement against data centers sweeping Europe.
Nathan Timmer of the protest group Geef Tegengas, a phrase that translates to Push Back, told local TV station AT5 that protesters were occupying the site in a bid to stop construction.
Activists against data centers in Europe are expected to hold protests and other actions in several countries on Friday and Saturday, demanding a moratorium on large-scale developments to address social and environmental concerns around data centers in Europe. behemoths hungry for energy.
“We don’t want it built. Nobody needs it,” Timmer said. “The only thing it will be used for is AI waste. AI warfare, data surveillance and genocide. We don’t want that,” he added, vowing to continue protesting until construction stops.
Pro-Palestinian activists also joined protests in the Dutch capital. By late afternoon, police were escorting the activists out of the construction site, although some still remained, local media reported.
Dutch police said Friday evening they had arrested between 150 and 200 people on suspicion of trespassing during the protest.
Microsoft said she was aware of the Amsterdam protest. “We understand that people are committed to the project and we respect their right to express their views peacefully,” a spokesperson said. “However, we do not tolerate any actions that are illegal or endanger the safety of people.”
The protests come days after the midterm elections in the United States. ushered in a wave of Democrats promising to crack down on data centerswhich face resistance around the world due to the massive amounts of computing power and water they use.
Dozens of civil society groups and citizens announced they would join “Stop Dirty Data Centers” events Friday and Saturday in 15 European countries, including Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, organizers said.
“There is a gap between where elected leaders are in terms of buying into the hype around AI and where citizens are,” said Owen Espley, coordinator of StopDirtyDataCentres.eu.
In Germany, around ten demonstrators gathered on Friday in front of a data center in the suburbs of Berlin.
“We want to put an end to this indiscriminate construction of data centers in Germany, regardless of any environmental concerns,” protest spokeswoman Caro Weber said. “It’s really very dangerous for our future.”
Around 100 people also demonstrated in front of the Polish parliament against the data centers on Friday, representing communities around Warsaw where new centers are planned.
In Italy, the growing data center sector is facing an equally rapid rise in popular opposition, particularly in the northern region of Lombardy, the country’s main hub for digital infrastructure.
Campaigners say the rise of facilities serving cloud computing and artificial intelligence is moving faster than public consultation and environmental monitoring.
The movement reached a milestone on October 10, when more than 1,000 people and representatives from around 40 local committees gathered in Milan’s Piazza della Scala for what organizers described as Italy’s first national protest against data centers.
Protesters called for a moratorium on new projects and demanded a national strategy governing the industry’s growth. The demonstration followed a series of increasingly large mobilizations in towns around Milan.
Europe is expected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data center capex between 2026 and 2050, representing around 18% of global investment, according to PwC’s Global Data Center Outlook 2026-50 report.
The United States is expected to invest $15.1 trillion in data centers during this period, according to the report.
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Naishadham reported from Madrid. Associated Press journalists Giada Zampano in Rome, Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin and Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw contributed to this report.
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