Activists break into building site of Microsoft datacentre in Amsterdam

Activists have stormed the site of a Microsoft datacentre being built in Amsterdam, as the backlash to the social and environmental harms of the AI boom spreads across Europe.

Protesters from Geef Tegengas, a Dutch direct action group, clashed with police while breaking into a construction site at Westpoort Amsterdam, where some members climbed a crane, lit flares and tied helium balloons to equipment.

The action comes amid Europe-wide resistance to the rapid expansion of energy-hungry AI, with more than 100 groups involved in a two-day series of protests to demand moratoria on the construction of new datacentres.

The break-in at the Dutch site, where protesters hung banners objecting to Microsoft’s services to the Israeli military and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was separate from the pan-European “Stop Dirty Data…