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Protesters broke into the construction site of a Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam on Friday, climbing cranes, setting off flares and clashing with police — the opening act of two days of rallies against the AI data centre boom, with actions announced in 16 countries. By Friday evening, Dutch police said they had detained between 150 and 200 people on suspicion of trespassing. It is the most confrontational moment yet in a backlash that is spreading across Europe as fast as the data centres themselves.
What happened at the Amsterdam site
According to Reuters, more than 100 activists gathered at the construction site of a Microsoft AI data centre in the Sloterdijk area on Friday, marching arm in arm before breaking into the site, climbing cranes, hanging balloons and dancing while police stood by. Some carried placards reading "Screw your datacentre". The protest group Geef Tegengas — "Push Back" — told local broadcaster AT5 that demonstrators were occupying the site to stop construction, and claimed around 500 people had entered, a figure well above the 100-plus cited by wire services.
By late afternoon, police were escorting activists off the site, though some remained, according to local media. One officer suffered minor injuries, and activists alleged officers used excessive force, including tear gas. The site's owner, Pure Data Centres, which plans to invest more than $1 billion and is backed by Brookfield-owned Oaktree, said it was committed to engagement with local stakeholders. Microsoft said it understood people had strong feelings about the project and respected their right to express them peacefully, but did not condone any unlawful actions.
A movement, not a one-off
The Amsterdam action was part of a coordinated weekend organised by the "Stop Dirty Data Centres" coalition, which is rallying environmental groups and digital rights campaigns behind calls to pause large-scale construction. Other planned actions included a march in Dublin, a protest outside the parliament building in Warsaw, and a demonstration against a different Microsoft data centre in Denmark. Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the Amsterdam demonstration. The Netherlands alone has about 200 data centres either planned, under construction or in operation.
The grievance is the scale and appetite of the AI build-out: the giant facilities consume vast amounts of electricity and water, and campaigners say communities get the noise, the grid strain and the concrete while the benefits flow elsewhere. Geef Tegengas previously blockaded an entrance to the same Sloterdijk site in June, and has a history of rail-track blockades tied to protests against the arms trade with Israel. Friday's escalation — from blockade to occupation, from a fence to a crane — suggests the movement has decided that polite objection is not working. The timing matters too: the protests come in the same week that concern over AI spending drove a sharp selloff in technology stocks, so the industry is defending its build-out on two fronts at once — in the markets and at the fence line. The industry, and the governments approving these sites, will have to decide whether to answer the argument or keep arresting the people making it.
Sources: Reuters and NDTV (Associated Press).