According to the port and the climate group, environmental activists tied themselves to a lock on Sunday at the Port of Amsterdam to stop a cruise ship from arriving.
Extinction Rebellion, a group that has demanded a halt to the heavily polluting vessels in the Dutch capital, carried out the action.
“Oil kills, stop cruise ships”, the activists spray-painted on the doors of the lock they had tied themselves to, according to footage broadcast live online on their video stream, XRTV.
Carlijn van Essen, a spokeswoman for the Port of Amsterdam, told AFP that the activists were at two locks in the huge IJmuiden complex, northwest of the capital.
She added that the “Serenade of the Seas” cruise ship, which has 1,000 cabins, is being prevented from passing because of the action. The ship was headed for Amsterdam. There was also a blocked oil tanker.
A week prior, identical circumstances necessitated the bus evacuation of 2,000 passengers from a cruise ship, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
Extinction Rebellion gained notoriety for its direct action demonstrations, which included blocking London’s Thames River bridges. However, the group has mainly redirected its attention from organizing widespread civil disobedience to creating a broad grassroots movement.
According to a study by the NGO Transport and Environment, cruise ships sailing in European waters in 2022 emitted more than eight million tonnes of CO2 — the equivalent of 50,000 Paris to New York flights.
