Protesters have broken into a Microsoft data center construction site in Amsterdam THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Protesters broke into a construction site for a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam on Friday, with some climbing a crane and setting off flares while others clashed with police. Nathan Timmer of the protest group Geef Tegengas, a phrase that translates as Push Back, told local broadcaster AT5 that protesters were occupying the site in an effort to stop construction. Campaigners against data centers in Europe are expected to stage protests and other actions in several countries on Friday and Saturday, demanding a moratorium on large-scale developments to address social and environmental concerns around the energy-hungry behemoths.
Nobody needs it,” Timmer said. AI warfare, data surveillance, and committing genocides. We don’t want that,” he added, vowing to continue protesting until construction is halted.
Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the demonstrations in the Dutch capital. By late afternoon police were escorting activists off the construction site, though some still remained, local media reported. Microsoft said it was aware of the Amsterdam demonstration.
Dozens of civil society and grassroots groups have said they will join the “Stop Dirty Data Centres” events on Nov. 6-7 in 15 European countries, including Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and the U.K., organizers said. In Germany, a dozen protesters gathered in front of a data center on the outskirts of Berlin on Friday. Activists argue that the boom in facilities serving cloud computing and artificial intelligence is moving faster than public consultation and environmental oversight.
The movement reached a milestone on Oct. 10, when more than 1,000 people and representatives of around 40 local committees gathered in Milan’s Piazza della Scala for what organizers described as Italy’s first national demonstration against data centers. Protesters called for a moratorium on new projects and demanded a national strategy governing the industry’s growth. The demonstration followed a series of increasingly large mobilizations in towns around Milan.
Europe is projected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data center capital expenditure from 2026 through 2050, accounting for around 18% of global investment, according to PwC’s Global Data Centre Outlook 2026–50. The U.S. is forecast to attract $15.1 trillion in capital spending on data centers during that period, the report said. Naishadham reported from Madrid. journalists Giada Zampano in Rome and Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin contributed to this report. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events
Extract — continue reading at the source.
