Climate activists block traffic in front of Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

Police have announced to take traffic delays and nuisance into account for commuters who need to pass through the Stadhouderskade at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as environmental activists have blocked that busy traffic junction, reports NOS

“Our government has been aware of this problem for 30 years and they are continuing to do nothing, so at some point, the time for friendly questions and petitions is over,” says one of the activists from Extinction Rebellion to NOS, the organisation that is behind organising this act of civil disobedience.

The municipality had initially banned this blockade from happening, but the activists want to use ‘civil disobedience’ to bring attention and put pressure on the government. “We use civil disobedience to force the government to do something about the climate,” says a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.

There have been some arrests but they don’t seem to be going anywhere – the demonstrators have pitched tents and everything! The police have asked them to move to Museumplein but they have not responded. They want to continue this protest for the whole week and is part of an international campaign. Similar protests are happening in Berlin, Paris, Sydney and London.

There won’t be any more activists joining them though – the police have blocked off the area around the Rijksmuseum. So take note commuters – you can’t go through Stadhouderskade, but Museumplein is free of traffic nuisance.

Do you have to go through these areas for your commute? Or are you at the protest? We want to see how it looks, so send us some pictures in the comments below!

Feature Image: merlijn_olnon/Instagram

Kavana Desai
Kavana Desaihttps://medium.com/@kavanadesai
Coping with the aftermath of her 3-year stint in the Netherlands, Kavana is a writer, content creator and editor for DutchReview. Hailing from India, she frequently blogs about the Netherlands, being Indian in the Netherlands, and everything in between. She envisions herself to one day be the youngest person to win that Nobel Prize for Literature (she is also not very humble but welcomes only constructive criticism). In the meantime, she fills her days with writing for DutchReview, writing her master's thesis on art theft, and writing fiction that will hopefully see the light of day soon.

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