Climate activists block private jets at Schiphol Luisa Neubauer defends climate protest: “Would never make people insecure”

After a protest by climate activists at Schiphol, the Dutch police arrested more than 100 people. According to the police, activists from the groups Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion had blocked private jets at the airport on Saturday, ANP reports. Some also chained themselves to airplanes. The scheduled flights to and from Schiphol were not affected by the protest.

Police also arrested protesters riding bicycles around the airport. Some had to be towed away by special forces and, according to activists, one protester was injured.

About 500 activists managed to break through a fence at a parking lot and gain access to the airport grounds, while others demonstrated in the airport building for fewer flights from Schiphol and especially against private jets. Residents of the airport, who are fighting against aircraft noise, also joined the protest at the airport.

As Greenpeace has announced, the protesters have prevented private jets from taking off from Schiphol. With a sit-in under a plane, about two dozen activists blocked a parked plane. “We demand fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets,” says Dewi Zloch of Greenpeace in the Netherlands. (sda/dpa)