Ruptly
"Hundreds of climate activists and pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked the A12 motorway near Utrecht on Saturday, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded. Footage shows protesters breaking through a police cordon and running onto the motorway, with officers charging at demonstrators with batons before the crowd pushed through. Police are later seen dragging seated protesters away as commuters shout at activists from stationary vehicles. The activists accused the Dutch government of continuing to subsidise fossil fuel companies to the tune of billions every year. "The Netherlands is not doing enough to stop climate change," a demonstrator, Marieke, said. "They just want to continue earning money and profiting, and extracting materials from this earth." "We have gained that money and that influence because we were a colonial nation once. And now we have a responsibility to pay back that debt," noted a protester, Puk. Bram, another activist, claimed that these subsidies do not benefit the working class but instead favour the rich. "The working class don't have any benefit with having fossil subsidies continuing or genocidal investments in the State of Israel or predatory deaths in the countries of the Global South," he declared. Around 500 activists from various organisations, including Extinction Rebellion, took part in the demonstration. The protest comes amid a global energy crisis triggered by the US-Israel conflict with Iran, with the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz restricting oil tanker movement and adding pressure on European economies already grappling with rising energy costs."
Go to News Site