Activists break into Microsoft data centre construction site in Amsterdam

Protesters forced their way onto the construction site of a planned Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam's Sloterdijk area on Friday, November 6, before riot police moved in to clear it. Dutch public broadcaster NOS and Al Jazeera differ on its scale.

What happened on the site

According to NOS, a group broke through the site fences around midday. Police put the number who got in at dozens; the group Geef Tegengas, which claimed the occupation, said it was several hundred. Al Jazeera, describing the action as led by Geef Tegengas and joined by pro-Palestinian activists, also spoke of several hundred people. Some protesters climbed a crane and the roof of the unfinished building, and some set off flares. NOS reported banners accusing Microsoft of complicity in the Gaza war, with activists citing the Israeli army as a Microsoft customer.

Police told NOS they had tried to stop the occupation, including by confronting demonstrators who refused to hand over an angle grinder and climbing gear, and that force was used. One officer was lightly injured. The riot police (ME) then surrounded groups and removed people one at a time. NOS reported one arrest for obstructing work, while Al Jazeera said police detained 150 to 200 people suspected of trespassing. A separate, announced demonstration by Fossielvrij NL, which objects to data centres running on gas, took place outside the fence.

A Geef Tegengas spokesperson told local broadcaster AT5, as quoted by Al Jazeera, that the aim was to stop construction altogether. Microsoft said it understood that the project stirs strong feelings and respected peaceful protest, but did not condone actions that break the law or put safety at risk.

A contested project in a city that bans new data centres

The occupation was one of many "Stop Dirty Data Centres" actions held on November 6 and 7 in 15 European countries, Al Jazeera reported, with protests also in Germany and Poland. Campaigners argue that construction driven by cloud computing and AI is outpacing public consultation and environmental oversight.

The Amsterdam project has drawn criticism before. DutchNews reported in January that the complex, three 85-metre towers in the western port area to be rented entirely by Microsoft, would use roughly as much energy as the city of Haarlem. Amsterdam has barred new data centres since 2023, and a 2022 national rule restricts very large ones, but the project escaped both because its plans predate them and, according to the province, because splitting it into three buildings keeps it under the hyperscale threshold. Geef Tegengas activists had already chained themselves to the site's fence earlier this year, NOS reported in August.