Protesters Storm Microsoft Site in Amsterdam as Data Centre Backlash Spreads in Europe

The demonstrations, coordinated by dozens of civil society and grassroots groups under the banner Stop Dirty Data Centres, continued on Saturday with marches in cities including Dublin and Helsinki. The coalition wants a moratorium on large data centres across Europe. Activists argue that construction is outpacing public consultation and environmental oversight, and they object to the electricity and water the facilities use.

For companies building AI infrastructure, the protests open a European front in a resistance that showed up at the ballot box in the United States this week, where restrictions on data centres won in almost every local vote in the midterm elections. Hyperscalers are relying on new European capacity to meet AI demand, and local opposition can slow planning approvals and grid connections.

In Amsterdam, some protesters climbed a crane and set off flares, and demonstrators clashed with police, Al Jazeera reported. Police said those detained were suspected of trespassing. The occupation was organised by Geef Tegengas, which translates as "Push Back". Its spokesperson, Nathan Timmer, told the local broadcaster AT5 that the aim was to stop construction. "We don't want it to be built. Nobody needs it," he said. He also criticised the project's links to AI warfare and surveillance. Pro-Palestinian activists joined the action.

Microsoft said it was aware of the demonstration and respected peaceful expression of views, but did not condone unlawful actions or anything that endangered people's safety.

In Dublin, hundreds of people joined what the Irish Times described as the first national protest against data centres in Ireland, marching from Parnell Square to Leinster House, the seat of parliament. Friends of the Earth Ireland organised the march and is calling for a moratorium on new data centres. Rosi Leonard, who leads the group's data centre campaign, said the "real cost" was "being borne by ordinary people". She cited a report estimating that the average household paid about €360 in extra electricity costs between 2015 and 2023. Speakers also raised water pollution, noise and a lack of transparency about how the sites operate.

Opposition politicians from the Social Democrats, the Green Party, People Before Profit and Sinn Féin attended. Paul Murphy, a People Before Profit member of parliament, said about half of Ireland's 124 data centres are in South Dublin County Council's area. Residents of County Kildare spoke against a proposed hyperscale campus near Naas.

Elsewhere, about a dozen protesters gathered outside a data centre on the outskirts of Berlin on Friday, and about 100 people protested outside parliament in Warsaw on behalf of communities where new centres are planned. In Italy, grassroots opposition is growing fastest in Lombardy, the country's main digital infrastructure hub, according to Al Jazeera.

Hazel Chu, a Green Party councillor and the party's deputy leader, told the Dublin crowd that with EU heads of state due to visit Ireland next Thursday, the government had to decide how far it was prepared to accommodate big tech.