Are Extinction Rebellion and Ultima generazione the new public enemy no. 1?

The police said they had used water cannon to disperse them and arrested ‘a total of 1,579 people, 40 of whom will be prosecuted’ on various charges including acts of vandalism.

According to Extinction Rebellion, at least 7,000 people had converged on the chosen area for the demonstration. Anticipating the use of water cannon, some wore swimming costumes or carried umbrellas as they sat in protest along the A12 motorway, holding banners and placards.

The protest is the seventh organised by Extinction Rebellion on the same stretch of motorway. The location has symbolic value for the activists: it is close to the Dutch Parliament and the main ministerial buildings.

On Saturday, however, what was new was the attitude of the police, which resulted in the highest number of people arrested during a protest, according to the Dutch news agency ANP.

The activists, however, have no intention of backing down. ‘We will stay here until they drag us away’, said doctoral student Anne Kerevers, 31. ‘Climate change is an ongoing crisis and we know the cause, and it is still subsidised by our government and it has to end’, she told AFP.

‘We come back every month, or every two months, and each time the number (of demonstrators) has doubled’, said Aaron Pereira, spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.

‘There is broad popular support for real climate action and people are realising that the government is actively working against this by subsidising the fossil fuel industry’.

Last week Extinction Rebellion joined other groups to demonstrate against Europe’s largest private jet sales fair in Geneva.

Some activists chained themselves to the aircraft on display and air traffic was briefly interrupted at the airport because of people on the runway.