Why hundreds of climate activists staged protest in Netherlands | Video

Extinction Rebellion activists marched onto the highway, despite police warnings.

Hundreds of climate activists blocked one of the main roads in The Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands, to stage a protest against government subsidies for fossil fuels such as oil and gas. Extinction Rebellion activists marched onto the highway, despite police warnings. Dozens of protestors could be seen waving coloured flags, while some held banners. One banner carried by the demonstrators claimed that ‘€17.5 billion euros of taxpayers money is going to fossil fuels’. Another read: ‘This is a dead-end street’, Dutch News reported.

Extinction Rebellion activists and sympathisers block a busy road in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP)

Local cops, as per reports, drove away protesters to waiting buses after they disobeyed orders to vacate the road. Hours after the demonstration began it was unclear how many people had been detained. Police said that many of the activists left voluntarily when told to by officers, news agency AP reported. "A large number of participants “shows what society thinks of fossil fuel subsidies and of the intimidation and criminalization of nonviolent climate activism," Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Anne Kervers said.

Earlier this week, six Extinction Rebellion activists were detained by authorities on suspicion of sedition linked to calls to stage the protest. A judge on Friday upheld an order banning another activist from the area for 90 days. Extinction Rebellion, however, said that he ignored the order and attended the protest. A lawyer for the group asserted that the order was a way of “taking away the right of climate activists to demonstrate.”

The arrests and exclusion order sparked unrest among activists who argue it infringes on their right to peaceful stir.