Koen Van WEEL / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
- Protesters have broken into a Microsoft Amsterdam data center construction site and unfurled anti-AI banners.
- The activist group Geef Tegengas said it had organized the protest.
- The protest highlights that the rising backlash against data centers isn't just a US issue.
Protesters broke into a Microsoft data center construction site on the outskirts of Amsterdam on Friday during an anti-AI demonstration.
Images on social media show activists scaling fences and congregating inside the construction site. Some of them climbed a crane, unfurled a banner with an anti-AI message, and let off flares.
Geef Tegengas, a Dutch activist collective, said on social media that it organized the action and that hundreds of its supporters were blocking construction of the site.
Koen Van WEEL / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
"We won't accept Amsterdam being used for the creation of AI slop and the facilitation of genocide," said Geef Tegengas spokesperson Roos Molenaar in a statement. "This data center is gulping up our drinking water to make the rich even richer."
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Koen Van WEEL / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
The protests are the latest example of backlash against data centers, the machines that have become a symbol for people's fears of AI and concerns over its environmental impact. They were a key issue in the US midterm elections and widely rejected at the ballot box over concerns about power bills, water use and other impacts on local communities.
A video posted on X by Dutch journalist Tom Olthof shows people hanging banners opposing the project, while a separate demonstration is held across the road.
Situatie nu: activisten hebben het terrein betreden en hangen doeken met teksten tegen Microsoft op. Aan de overkant is een demonstratie om de actie te steunen. Politie vreest voor vernielingen op het bouwterrein middels chemicaliën. Op dit moment wordt er niet ontruimd. pic.twitter.com/f5GxlmP6bw
— Tom Olthof (@olthof_tom) November 6, 2026Police feared possible damage to the construction site from chemical use, Olthof said in the caption.
Geef Tegengas has targeted the site before: its activists occupied the construction area in June, temporarily halting work.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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