Amsterdam police arrest 218 protesters at Microsoft data center site

On Friday, November 6, several hundred activists broke through the fences of a construction site in the Sloterdijk district of Amsterdam, despite a police presence and a city hall ban on the demonstration. The site is slated to host a 78-megawatt data center, built by Pure Data Centres Group, with Microsoft as its sole tenant. Work on the site stopped for the day, AFP reports.

Initial police figures, cited by Bloomberg, reported at least one arrest. Police then announced they had arrested between 150 and 200 people for trespassing, according to the ANP and dpa news agencies. On some of them, police found equipment suspected of having been stolen from the site; others are suspected of damage. All were due to be questioned. The next day, a police spokesperson told ANP that 218 people had been detained and that all had been released.

What do the activists have against this data center?

The occupation was led by the collective Geef Tegengas, which describes it as the first mass protest in Europe against large data centers. The environmental movement Fossielvrij had planned a rally in front of the site. According to Gizmodo, this is the second occupation of the site since June. Quoted by AFP, activist spokesperson Nathan Timmer claims the site would consume as much energy as all Amsterdam households combined, as well as large amounts of water. The activists also denounce the military use of AI and Microsoft's ties to Israel.

Asked by Gizmodo, Microsoft said it respects the right to protest peacefully, but does not condone illegal actions or those that endanger safety. The company added that the well-being of everyone on and around the site, including workers, staff and neighbors, is its top concern.

Two days of actions across Europe, including France

Amsterdam was only a starting point. The Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition called for actions on November 6 and 7 to secure a moratorium on large data centers. It cites rising energy bills, water scarcity, the climate, the use of AI in warfare and the political weight of tech giants. The list of countries varies by source. ChannelNews names France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Gizmodo also mentions the United Kingdom and Poland.

In France, the rallying cry is “Datacenters everywhere, democracy nowhere.” According to ChannelNews, the country has more than 350 data centers, the third-highest number in Europe behind Germany and the United Kingdom. More than 110 are being rolled out, and about sixty new sites are planned under the government's “turnkey” sites program. The Marseille-based association Le Nuage était sous nos pieds (“The Cloud Was Beneath Our Feet”) counts more than thirty contested projects. The issue has also reached the National Assembly. In July, a parliamentary inquiry committee estimated that 90% of the 15 gigawatts requested by data center operators would go to non-European players, and recommended a moratorium on these projects. On October 13, Somme lawmaker François Ruffin tabled a non-binding draft resolution calling for a five-year moratorium on non-sovereign projects.

Why IT leaders should follow this debate

This opposition is not only a concern for activists. The computing power promised for AI, including through cloud offerings, depends on construction sites, power grid connections and local decisions that can run late. That is the case for a data center planned for Microsoft in England that risks being left without power. In the United States, voters approved limits on data centers in 40 of the 41 local ballots held on November 3, according to Ballotpedia's count cited by Gizmodo.

It remains to be seen whether the protest will weigh on French decisions. For now, the government continues to offer new sites to investors. Opponents are first demanding a public debate.