Demonstrators entered a Microsoft-leased site in Amsterdam on Friday, Nov. 6, as a 15-country European campaign pressed for a pause in large-scale data center projects.
Pure Data Centers Group is developing the site in Sloterdijk/Westpoort; Microsoft has leased the full facility. The 78-megawatt project would comprise three buildings, each 85 meters tall.
Riot units were deployed to uphold the mayor's ban while demonstrators tried to get beyond police lines. Demonstrators occupied the site in June, and work stopped for much of a day.
Reports offered different measures of the crowd: Reuters reported more than 100 activists gathered, while NOS said protest group Geef Tegengas claimed several hundred entered. The accounts do not establish a verified count of people who entered.
Police estimated that 150 to 200 people had been detained on suspicion of trespassing, AT5 reported, according to earlier EconoTimes coverage of the police response. NOS had reported one earlier arrest in connection with alleged obstruction of work.
