Police use water cannon as climate activists block Dutch highway

Police deployed water cannon to disperse climate activists protesting on a highway in the Netherlands on Saturday to demand an end to government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.

Thousands of people marched along the A12 highway into The Hague, ignoring warnings from authorities not to block the major traffic artery into the Dutch seat of government.

Extinction Rebellion, which organised the event, has said it will continue to hold protests until the government of the Netherlands stops using public funds to subsidise the oil and gas industry.

“The seas are rising and so are we,” chanted the crowd, which included children and the elderly.