Dutch police end blockage by climate activists near Rijksmuseum

Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-08 01:36:39|Editor: yan
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THE HAGUE, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Amsterdam police stopped a day-long blocking of a main road to the Rijksmuseum, a national museum dedicated to arts and history, by climate activists on Monday and arrested a total of 90 protesters.

Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema eventually issued an emergency order to force protesters to get away from the site.

Around 270 were escorted to several other locations at the borders of the city by bus.

The protest started early on Monday morning with hundreds of protesters blocking the Stadhouderskade, a street along the Rijksmuseum.

The municipality of Amsterdam had forbidden the blockade, but the protesters of the so-called Extinction Rebellion action group nevertheless continued their action.

The activists said they wanted to continue the blockade for a week in order to enforce more climate measures. The climate protest was part of an international campaign. Extinction Rebellion protests also take place in Berlin, Paris, Sydney and London.

At around 7 p.m. local time, Amsterdam police said 90 arrests have been made throughout the day. To avoid escalation, police did the arrests slowly person by person.

The activists were allowed by the Amsterdam municipality to demonstrate at the nearby Museumplein square behind the Rijksmuseum until 7 p.m. local time.

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