Overview
- Dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists walked onto the Utrechtsebaan (A12) in The Hague, sat on the carriageway and unrolled banners, which blocked outbound lanes and forced traffic to be diverted for about an hour and a half.
- The municipality said the action was not announced and was forbidden, and Mayor Jan van Zanen ordered protesters to leave or face arrest.
- Police moved demonstrators toward arrest buses, carried those who would not walk onto the buses and began detaining people in the mid-afternoon, but the total number arrested was not yet reported.
- The protest followed a fatal multi-vehicle crash on the A59 the day before, and several ministers had urged against motorway blockades; XR said it debated canceling the action but continued citing the climate emergency and that it entered at a zebra crossing on a 50 km/h stretch.
- The blockade provoked heavy horn honking and risky driving as some motorists drove onto pavements, the central reservation or against traffic to bypass the lines, a development that may increase enforcement and political scrutiny of future road blockades.