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14:06
Highway open to traffic again
The A10 motorway reopened around 2 p.m. on Saturday after activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) blocked the road. A group of more than a hundred demonstrators walked onto the A10 near the former ING office in Amsterdam shortly after 12 noon.
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14:01
Highway empty
The highway is now empty but not yet opened to traffic. Rijkswaterstaat still has to check whether the road is clean and safe enough for traffic.
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13:19
Protesters are taken away in buses
The demonstrators are taken one by one to waiting buses. Most demonstrators walk along, some are dragged. The atmosphere remains friendly.
Two demonstrators are taken away on a stretcher. The woman in a bear suit who had stuck to the road surface is carefully plucked from the asphalt with a hammer and chisel. A man and woman who had glued themselves together also go to the bus on a stretcher.
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13:03
Stalemate
On Saturday afternoon at ten to one, the XR demonstrators were surrounded by police on the A10. “Beautiful, isn’t it, that show of power,” says Jan Groot (62), Jungian therapist. “All with those broad shoulders.”
Groot has stood on the other side of the railing. “I have been there twice before and I always find the police very friendly. They follow their procedures, it’s just a game.”
Last time he was taken away by bus. “Then an officer said to me: I’m glad you’re doing this, I also have children. I found that moving.”
In an hour ‘in the afternoon There appears to be a standoff between the police and the demonstrators on the A10.
Image Dingena Mol -
12:30
Police: fifteen minutes to leave highway
Around half past one on Saturday afternoon, the police gathered to remove the demonstrators from the A10. The police have informed the demonstrators that they have fifteen minutes to leave the highway of their own accord. After that, action will be taken.
A man draws a box on the A10 with chalk. ‘Busy, Joep‘ it says. Jeroen: “That box is for Joep. We don’t want a fight with the Dutch people.”
Marieke: “We are the Titanic. Everyone is celebrating but we are sinking. We are the orchestra today.”
An older woman in a bear suit has now glued herself to the asphalt.
Image Dingena Mol -
12:20
Municipality: police will take action
The municipality reports on X: the police will prepare to take action.
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And a little later:
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12:15
Banners
The woman who was just helped up the slope has taken off her coat and appears to be wearing an orange bear suit underneath. A young mother carries her toddler in a buggy.
An activist addresses the demonstrators with a megaphone: “Who is the boss? It didn’t work last time, but now it does. And if ING stops its fossil policy, the A10 will belong to Amsterdam again. But now he’s ours!”
The group has grown to this point‘n 150 demonstrators walking with banners across the six lanes of the Ring A10.
Image Dingena Mol -
12:06
Protesters stop traffic
The number of cars‘s decreases. “Bastards!” Someone shouts from the open window of his car to the demonstrators. Other motorists give them a thumbs up.
An elderly demonstrator, with crutches, is helped up the slope with three men. At four minutes past twelve, the demonstrators walk onto the A10, cheering
Image Dingena Mol -
11:57
About a hundred demonstrators
People will gather at the Amstelveenseweg, on the edge of the A10, around twelve o’clock on Saturday ‘about a hundred demonstrators in the afternoon. They fully intend to block the highway, despite Mayor Femke Halsema’s express ban.
“The climate cannot wait,” says spokesperson Josefien van Marlen. “ING’s fossil policy is worsening the climate crisis and that must simply stop.”
And that has to be on King’s Day? From Marlen: “We also celebrate King’s Day. The king said in his 2021 Christmas speech that more attention should be paid to climate. We stand here in the name of the king.”
At five to twelve they climb up the slope of the A10 and stand along the railing of the A10. Car‘s honk. For now, the police are watching.
Image Dingena Mol -
08:41
Welcome!
Welcome to our live blog. Climate movement Extinction Rebellion (XR) will try to occupy the A10 today at noon, out of dissatisfaction with the ING bank’s policy on fossil energy.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema officially banned the demonstration last Thursday. She did this after previously urging Extinction Rebellion to abandon the blockade. Follow all developments here.
Image Jacob van Vliet
