Activists occupy site of Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam

Europe is currently experiencing a surge of protests against the construction of new data centers. In Amsterdam, protesters affiliated with the group Geef Tegengas infiltrated the site of a forthcoming Microsoft data center facility. Approximately a hundred individuals successfully gained access to the construction site, some scaling a crane to hang banners featuring anti-AI and opposition to Microsoft messages.

The demonstrators displayed a banner proclaiming "Microsoft powers genocide" and chanted slogans such as "Microsoft has got to go" and "free Palestine." This protest is occurring more than a year after Amsterdam banned new data centers until 2030, following a temporary suspension announced at the end of 2023. Microsoft is set to be the exclusive occupant of the new data center, a project that has been in development since 2016, predating the city's ban on new data centers.

The site, under construction by British developer Pure Data Centres, has managed to circumvent certain restrictions to reach the construction phase. The protests against Microsoft's data center in Amsterdam unfold in the same week that activists staged a mock Israeli military checkpoint outside a Microsoft data center in Dublin, part of a broader wave of data center protests across Europe.

Concurrently, voters in the US recently rejected the unrestricted development of data centers. Across the United States, AI data centers are proliferating, with local communities often protesting the impact on their neighborhoods. Microsoft has also abandoned a major data center project in the UK due to concerns about power supply availability until the 2030s.

The software giant has faced a series of protests from its own employees over the past year. A Microsoft employee disrupted the company's Build developer conference last year, and two employee protesters were fired for occupying Microsoft's president's office following the company's 50th anniversary party interruption.