150 Detained as Protesters Storm Microsoft Data Center Site in Amsterdam

Between 150 and 200 people were detained by Dutch police on Friday evening after they occupied a construction site for a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam. The arrests follow a chaotic scene in which activists climbed a crane and set off flares before clashing with law enforcement. The site is under construction for a facility that will house servers for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Nathan Timmer, a member of the protest group Geef Tegengas, told local broadcaster AT5 that the goal of the occupation was to halt construction. The group’s name translates to Push Back. Timmer argued that the facility was unnecessary for most people. He stated that the infrastructure would primarily serve to generate low-quality artificial intelligence content, support AI warfare, enable data surveillance, and commit genocides. He vowed the group would continue protesting until the project is stopped.

By late Friday afternoon, police were escorting activists off the site, though some remained, according to local media reports. Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the demonstrations in the Dutch capital. This action is part of a larger coordinated effort. Dozens of civil society and grassroots groups are joining Stop Dirty Data Centres events on Friday and Saturday in 15 European countries. The list includes Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, and the U.K.

Owen Espley, coordinator of StopDirtyDataCentres.eu, described a divide between political leadership and public sentiment. He said there is a gulf between where elected leaders are in terms of buying into the hype about AI and where people are at. The movement is demanding a moratorium on large-scale developments to address social and environmental concerns. Critics argue these energy-hungry facilities are built too quickly without enough public consultation or environmental oversight.

The demonstrations are occurring days after the U.S. midterm elections. A wave of Democrats has taken office promising to clamp down on data centers. These facilities face resistance around the world due to the massive amounts of computing power and water they consume. In Germany, a dozen protesters gathered in front of a data center on the outskirts of Berlin on Friday. Caro Weber, a protest spokeswoman, said they want to stop the blind construction of data centers in Germany. She called the trend dangerous for the future.

In Poland, around 100 people protested in front of the parliament in Warsaw on Friday. The demonstrators represented communities where new centers are planned. In Italy, the data center industry is facing rapid grassroots opposition, particularly in the northern Lombardy region. This area is the country’s main hub for digital infrastructure. The movement reached a milestone on Oct. 10, when more than 1,000 people and representatives from about 40 local committees gathered in Milan’s Piazza della Scala. Organizers described it as Italy’s first national demonstration against data centers.

Participants in the Milan rally called for a moratorium on new projects and demanded a national strategy to govern the industry’s growth. This followed a series of increasingly large mobilizations in towns around Milan. Microsoft said it was aware of the Amsterdam demonstration. A spokesperson said the company understands that people feel strongly about the project and respects their right to express views peacefully. However, the company stated it does not condone unlawful actions or those that put people’s safety at risk.

The financial stakes for the industry are high. Europe is projected to attract $5.6 trillion in cumulative data center capital expenditure from 2026 through 2050. This amount accounts for around 18% of global investment, according to PwC’s Global Data Centre Outlook 2026-50. The U.S. is forecast to attract $15.1 trillion in capital spending on data centers during the same period.