Hundreds of climate activists in white overalls stormed Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Saturday afternoon after breaching fences. At the private jet parking lot, they organized themselves into small groups to block plane takeoffs, some tying themselves to their bikes.
Some activists on bicycles rode the asphalt and chanted slogans like “Down with thefts” or “Schiphol polluters”. To the applause of onlookers on the other side of the fence, activists from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion were able to stop a dozen thefts. “If we’re going to start reducing emissions, i.e. flying less, we have to tackle the ones we absolutely don’t need, the most unnecessary ones, namely short-haul flights,” said Faiza Oulahsen, spokeswoman for Greenpeace. “So flights from Amsterdam to London, Brussels, Paris, but also private jets. »
The action took place on the eve of the opening of Sunday’s COP27 in Egypt. The Dutch border police arrested nearly 200 activists, some of whom were swept away and injured.