{"id":3968,"date":"2026-11-07T12:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T07:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3968"},"modified":"2026-11-07T12:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T07:03:43","slug":"protesters-storm-microsoft-data-centre-site-in-amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3968","title":{"rendered":"Protesters storm Microsoft data centre site in Amsterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Protesters broke into the construction site of a Microsoft \u200bdata centre in Amsterdam on Friday at the start of two days of rallies that are part of a growing global \u200cbacklash over the rapid build-out of computing power needed for AI.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Activist groups have announced actions in 16 countries on Friday and Saturday, according to the \u201cStop Dirty Data Centres\u201d coalition, which is rallying environmental groups and digital rights campaigns behind calls to pause large-scale construction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Amsterdam on Friday, more than 100 activists gathered at the construction site of a Microsoft AI \u200bdata centre, marching arm in arm before breaking into the site, climbing cranes, hanging balloons and dancing while police stood by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese data centres are destroying our world. It\u2019s becoming uninhabitable because of all \u2060the resources they consume. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here today,\u201d protester Sam van der Beek said.<\/p>\n

Site owner Pure Data Centres, which plans to invest more than $1 \u200bbillion and is backed by Brookfield-owned Oaktree, said it was committed to engagement with local stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respectfully ask those on site to leave safely and engage \u200bwith us in dialogue about the development and any concerns they may have,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Other planned actions include a march in Dublin, a protest outside the parliament building in Warsaw, and a demonstration against a different Microsoft data centre in Denmark.<\/p>\n

Microsoft said it understood that people had strong feelings about the project and respected their right to express \u200bthem peacefully but did not condone any unlawful actions.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Stock market rout<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pushback is growing from Spain<\/a> to India<\/a> and the United States<\/a>, where technology \u200bstocks fell sharply on Thursday<\/a> over concern that Democratic control of Congress could mean tougher regulation curtails the AI boom.<\/p>\n

Campaigners say data centres pressure electricity and water supplies, compete with \u200chousing and \u2060other businesses for scarce resources and threaten climate goals.<\/p>\n

They also point to job losses and potential risks to personal and national security from private and big tech concentrating power.<\/p>\n

Technology companies argue that data centres are essential to meeting global demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing and provide critical infrastructure for businesses, governments and consumers.<\/p>\n

Stop Dirty Data Centres says it is not anti-progress or calling for existing data centres to be closed but that major \u200bconstruction should be halted until governments establish \u200bclearer rules.<\/p>\n

Europe is divided between \u2060its ambition to catch up with the US and Asia on AI to boost productivity and to maintain what are generally more stringent controls and public protections.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said Europe \u200bneeded more data centres to power AI development, though she added it needed to be done with care.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI, \u200bof course, is a \u2060super important technology and we need to have our own capacity,\u201d Virkkunen said, pointing to investments being made in chip-making capacity, AI startups and a plan to build out gigafactories around the region.<\/p>\n

However, she added, \u201cit\u2019s very important for citizens that they can trust that their energy bills are not skyrocketing and there\u2019s not electricity \u2060blackouts because \u200bof data centres, or they are not destroying the environment with these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Google project \u200bin Finland faces a criminal probe over land clearances, Italy and Portugal are tightening environmental regulation for datacentres, and Microsoft pulled out of a UK data centre project that was hit \u200bby infrastructure delays.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands has about 200 data centres either planned, under construction or in operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protesters broke into the construction site of a Microsoft \u200bdata centre in Amsterdam on Friday at the start of two days of rallies that are part of a growing global \u200cbacklash over the rapid build-out of computing power needed for AI. Activist groups have announced actions in 16 countries on Friday and Saturday, according to the \u201cStop Dirty Data Centres\u201d coalition, which is rallying environmental groups and digital rights campaigns behind calls to pause large-scale construction. In Amsterdam on Friday, more than 100 activists gathered at the construction site of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}