Police arrest two as Extinction Rebellion blocks The Hague A12 motorway
Mayor Jan van Zanen ordered the immediate clearing of the Utrechtsebaan after several dozen Extinction Rebellion activists blocked the A12 motorway in The Hague on Saturday afternoon.
Blockade on the Utrechtsebaan
Shortly after 13:00 on Saturday, 29 August 2026, several dozen climate demonstrators affiliated with Extinction Rebellion entered the A12 motorway in The Hague from an access ramp. The group advanced into the tunnel section of the Utrechtsebaan heading outbound toward Utrecht near the Malieveld, sitting down on the asphalt with banners. At the intersection with Zuid-Hollandlaan, demonstrators placed bicycles across the road surface to halt traffic leaving the city center. A police spokesperson confirmed that the demonstration had not been announced in advance. The sudden obstruction caused ordinary vehicle traffic to back up directly behind arriving police vehicles. Although police officers instructed stationary drivers to remain in place and wait, multiple motorists turned their cars around and drove against traffic back toward the on-ramp intersection to exit the blocked corridor.
Municipal intervention and arrests
The Hague Mayor Jan van Zanen ordered the immediate clearing of the thoroughfare shortly after the activists occupied the roadway. At least 20 police officers and multiple patrol vehicles deployed to the scene to manage the situation and begin clearing the tunnel section. Police officers arrested two activists at the site before issuing a formal dispersal order instructing the remaining participants to leave the motorway. An Extinction Rebellion spokesperson confirmed the two arrests, though the exact initial charges were not immediately specified. The activist group maintained that protesting on public roadways is not prohibited under Dutch law, indicating plans to challenge any legal action in court.
If we are charged for blocking the highway, then we are of course going to challenge that in court. We as humans cannot run away from the climate problem.
Tightened policy on highway blockades
The direct intervention follows a joint statement issued earlier in the week by Dutch mayors, the Public Prosecution Service, the police, and Justice Minister David van Weel. The authorities announced an agreement to apply criminal enforcement against highway and railway blockades rather than treating them solely as civil assembly matters. This collective enforcement policy developed after a fatal traffic collision on the A59 near Heesch on Friday, 14 August 2026. In that incident, two people died and six others were injured in a crash at the rear of a traffic jam caused by farmers driving tractors on the motorway.
Demonstrating is a fundamental right and that is what we protect. But expressing your opinion is something different from making the highway or railway unsafe.
- Extinction Rebellion activists block a motorway in Utrecht despite a municipal ban
- Two people die and six are injured in an A59 crash near Heesch during farmer tractor protests
- Extinction Rebellion stages an earlier blockade on the A12 Utrechtsebaan in The Hague
- Public prosecutors demand 120 hours of community service for six Utrecht highway protesters
- Activists block the A12 in The Hague; Mayor Van Zanen orders immediate removal
- The Dutch House of Representatives returns from summer recess
Prosecution demands and climate demands
Saturday's action was the third time Extinction Rebellion blocked the Utrechtsebaan during the summer of 2026, following a protest exactly two weeks earlier on 15 August. The demonstration also follows formal prosecution demands delivered in court on Wednesday against six Extinction Rebellion activists who blocked a motorway in Utrecht on 25 April. In that case, which involved a protest previously banned by the Utrecht mayor, prosecutors demanded 120 hours of community service and a one-month suspended prison sentence for each defendant. The governing municipal coalition in The Hague had previously pledged to take every possible measure to prevent A12 blockades, with the local party Hart voor Den Haag calling for water cannons at maximum pressure. Extinction Rebellion justified the unannounced protest by citing recent fatal climate disasters and severe environmental damage during the summer. The organization demanded that the Dutch House of Representatives enact urgent structural measures when it reconvenes from summer recess on 1 September 2026, including the total abolition of fossil fuel subsidies and reforms to decrease national economic dependence on fossil energy.
