Protests against data centers across Europe... Intrusion into Dutch MS construction site (comprehensive)

(London = Yonhap News) Correspondent Jiyeon Kim = While candidates opposing the construction of artificial intelligence data centers (AIDCs) have won one after another in the U.S. midterm elections, protests against data centers are being held in Europe with the participation of over 100 organizations from 16 countries. Some even staged radical protests, breaking into the construction site.

According to Reuters and Bloomberg News on the 6th (local time), in Amsterdam, Netherlands, about 100 anti-data center activists forcibly entered the Microsoft (MS) data center construction site and held a protest.

They hung up banners with phrases such as “Microsoft supplies power to genocide” and “Fail the data center,” and even climbed a crane.

Police who responded to the scene confiscated cutting tools and climbing equipment from them.

“These data centers are destroying our world,” protester Sam van der Wijk told Reuters. “The world is becoming uninhabitable because of all the resources they consume.”

Microsoft said it understands people have strong feelings about the data center project and that it respects people's right to express their views peacefully, but cannot tolerate illegal activity.

According to Euro News and the Guardian, the headquarters of the movement organized under the name of 'Stop Dirty Data Centers' announced that it would hold protests in Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom on the 6th and 7th.

Organizers said the movement was organized in response to "growing concerns surrounding the impact of data center expansion on communities and public infrastructure, land, water and energy use, housing, jobs and the cost of living."

Events taking place over the two days include a protest in front of the Government House in London, a protest in front of the Polish Parliament, a march in Dublin, Ireland, a protest in front of Microsoft in Denmark, and an educational event near a planned data center site in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Owen Espley, coordinator of the pan-European protests, said, "Communities and civil society across Europe are rising up against the burden of data centers that are hogging up our region's energy, water and land," and added, "The results of the U.S. midterm elections reflect concerns shared on both sides of the Atlantic (the U.S. and Europe)."

Various environmental groups in Europe, including the 'Movement Against Climate Change', Greenpeace, Fox Globe, and the University Alliance for Climate Justice, are participating in this protest.

The German Institute for Ecology predicts that carbon dioxide emissions from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers by 2030 will be six times higher than in 2023.

This pan-European movement also points out the impact of AI chatbots on human mental health, the threat of AI replacing jobs, and the problem of prioritizing data centers over housing despite the severe housing crisis in Europe.

In Europe, the construction of data centers has recently been increasing and difficulties are being encountered in many places.

In the Netherlands alone, there are 200 data centers planned, built, or in operation.

A Google project in Finland has faced investigation over site availability issues, while Italy and Portugal are increasing regulations around data centers. In the UK, infrastructure issues caused delays and Microsoft canceled the project.

In an interview with Reuters the previous day, EU Deputy Commissioner for Technology Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Birkkunen, said that Europe needs more data centers for AI development, but that this must be done carefully.

“AI is, of course, a hugely important technology and we must have our own capabilities,” said Birkkunen, deputy executive director. “We also need to be able to trust citizens that their energy bills will not skyrocket, that there will be no power outages, and that the environment will not be destroyed.”