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Dutch Police Detain 2.9K Climate Activists

    Dutch Police Detain 2.9K Climate Activists
    Last updated Sep 12, 2023
    Image credit: Unsplash

    Facts

    • Dutch police detained an additional 500 climate activists on Sunday, a day after arresting nearly 2.4K out of an estimated 10K protesters blocking the A12 highway into The Hague. Some of those demonstrating were minors.
    • The activists were reportedly demanding the government put an end to the use of billions of taxpayer Euros to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.
    • Police also deployed water cannons to disperse protesters after they allegedly threatened to "stay or come back every day" until the government rolled back the financial support.
    • Activists from multiple climate groups — including Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace — reportedly ignored police warnings and prevented traffic heading to the temporary venue for the lower house of parliament.
    • This comes after the Netherlands announced in May that it would spend €28B in the coming years to ensure it lowers CO2 emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
    • According to a report published on Monday by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, the government of the Netherlands spends around €37.5B ($40.5B) per year in subsidies for industries that use fossil fuels.

    Spin

    Establishment-critical narrative

    Climate activists' actions are effective precisely because they work to bring attention to the climate crisis, especially to the fact that extreme temperatures are a sign of the future facing humanity if we fail to abandon our over-reliance on fossil fuels. The Netherlands must heed these protestors' warnings and repeal subsidies for industries that are threatening the planet.

    Pro-establishment narrative

    As the Netherlands aims to make the energy sector carbon neutral by 2035, climate activists' destructive and disruptive protests cast doubt about their intentions. There are a myriad of peaceful, civil, and reasonable ways to protest climate and ecological breakdown that don't involve taking a country for ransom.

    Nerd narrative

    There's a 50% chance that global CO2 emissions will peak by June 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

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