Almost 1,600 arrested and 40 charged during a demonstration against fossil fuels in The Hague

Almost 1,600 people have been arrested and 40 of them will be charged for public disorder after the enormous blockade carried out this Saturday by environmental activists and sympathizers of the cause for the environment on the A12 motorway near The Hague (Netherlands), as reported by the Police.

Most of the detainees are free, while the defendants will be accused of verbal attacks on authority or damage to public property during this action organized by the group Extinction Rebellion.Extinction Rebellion members, accompanied by thousands of supporters and environmental defenders, blocked the A12 for five hours, from around noon to approximately 5:00 p.m., to demonstrate against subsidies to the fossil industryas reported by the chain NOS.

The police finally ended up intervening with low intensity water cannon. The protesters, warned against this action, appeared on the highway wearing swimsuits, bikinis and other summer clothes.

A protester has been arrested for biting an agent but there is no record of other types of physical incidents in a concentration that the Police itself has recognized as fundamentally peaceful.