Climate protests are growing in the Netherlands! In recent years, more and more people have been participating in climate demonstrations. The climate movement has (co-)organized several protests over the years.
One of the first mass climate protests in the Netherlands took place on September 21, 2014, in Amsterdam, where 5,000 people gathered just before the Climate Summit in New York during the People’s Climate March. A year later, Amsterdam was the scene of another climate protest. On November 29, 2015, 7,000 people marched in the Climate Parade, just before the climate summit in Paris that year. The following year, turnout was even higher, and on April 29, 2017, approximately 8,000 people took to the streets for the Climate March in Amsterdam.
The climate movement then made great strides, with no fewer than three major demonstrations in 2019. On February 7, 2019, schoolchildren took to the streets en masse in The Hague during the Climate Strike. More than 10,000 young people (and older people) gathered on the Malieveld. A month later, on March 10, 2019, the Climate March took place. No fewer than 40,000 people traveled from all over the Netherlands to Amsterdam to march from Dam Square to Museumplein in the pouring rain.
That autumn, it was once again the schoolchildren who took action en masse during another Climate Strike. This time, on September 27, 2019, 35,000 concerned citizens marched towards The Hague.
Due to COVID-19, the next mass protest couldn’t take place until 2021: on March 4, 2021, a total of 35,000 people across the Netherlands raised their voices during the Climate Alarm. A few months later, on November 6, 2021, another Climate March took place in Amsterdam. Organized just before the climate summit in Glasgow, this protest attracted 40,000 people.
The following year, Rotterdam hosted its first Climate March. “Actions speak louder than words!” some 10,000 people shouted on June 19, 2022.
2023 was another big year for the climate movement. On September 9, 2023, the demonstration in support of Extinction Rebellion’s A12 blockades and the blockade itself drew an estimated 25,000 people. Later that year, the largest climate protest ever in the Netherlands took place: on November 12, 2023, 85,000 people descended on Amsterdam for the March for Climate and Justice. During this event, world-renowned activist Greta Thunberg, among others, addressed the crowd at Museumplein. It was one of the largest demonstrations ever in the Netherlands.
