Protesters stormed the construction site of Microsoft's planned data centre in Amsterdam on Friday, clashing with police in a Europe-wide campaign against energy-hungry facilities.
Around 200 activists in blue overalls and keffiyehs cut through fences with concrete shears at the Plimsollweg site in the Westelijk Havengebied, climbing a crane and silo to set off flares. Police used pepper spray and batons to pull demonstrators from the fences, arresting between 150 and 200 people. A separate group marching from the Sloterdijk train station was stopped and searched by police before reaching the site.
The facility is meant to host three 85-meter data towers being built by British operator Pure DC for Microsoft. The project uses separate permits for each tower to bypass the national ban on new hyperscale data centres. The towers would draw as much electricity as all households in Amsterdam combined.
Local opposition has been fuelled by a city-wide electricity grid shortage that has delayed the construction of schools, housing and childcare facilities. A fake letter circulated in the neighbourhood claiming Amsterdam would have to forgo 30,000 homes because of the data centre. Earlier, Extinction Rebellion threw water balloons containing chemicals at the foundations in an attempt to damage the structure and delay construction.
The Amsterdam action was part of "Stop Dirty Data Centres" protests across 15 European countries on Friday and Saturday. Organisers are demanding a moratorium on large-scale developments to address social and environmental concerns.
Nathan Timmer of the anti-capitalist group Geef Tegengas told broadcaster AT5 that protesters were occupying the site to stop construction. "We don't want it to be built. Nobody needs it," he said. "The only thing this will be used for is AI slop. AI warfare, data surveillance, and committing genocides. We don't want that." Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the demonstration.
Owen Espley, coordinator of StopDirtyDataCentres.eu, said: "There's a gulf between where elected leaders are at in terms of buying into the hype about AI and where people are at."
Microsoft said it was aware of the demonstration. "We understand that people feel strongly about the project, and we respect their right to express those views peacefully," a spokesperson said. "However, we do not condone any actions that are unlawful or that put people's safety at risk."
Europe is projected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data centre capital expenditure from 2026 through 2050, accounting for around 18 percent of global investment, according to PwC's Global Data Centre Outlook 2026–50.
