Protesters Break Into Microsoft Data Center in Amsterdam
Protesters climbed a crane and hung banners at the site in the west of the Dutch capital. The city has banned new data centers, but this project was planned before the ban.
AMSTERDAM, Nov 6 – About 100 protesters broke into the building site of a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam on Friday. They climbed a crane, hung banners and chanted against the tech company.
Some of them went up the crane. Up there, they hung a banner with a crude slogan against artificial intelligence. Another banner on the site read “Microsoft powers genocide.” The crowd chanted “Microsoft has got to go” and “free Palestine.”
The Dutch campaign group Geef Tegengas, which means “Push Back,” helped organize the protest. It has been campaigning against the site for months.
The project involves three towers, each 85 meters tall. British developer Pure Data Centres is building them, and Microsoft will be the sole tenant. According to industry reports, the site is expected to require 78 megawatts of power.
Many people in Amsterdam are unhappy about the rapid growth of data centers. At the end of 2023, the city imposed a temporary halt on new projects. In 2025, it went further and banned new data centers until 2030.
However, this project was allowed to proceed because it was first planned in 2016, before the restrictions were introduced. Reports also suggest that the developer used gaps in the rules to move the project forward.
It is not the first time Microsoft’s data center in Amsterdam has been targeted. In June, members of Geef Tegengas chained themselves to the site and climbed its cranes, forcing work to stop for much of the day. The group says the project will consume large amounts of electricity and water while offering few benefits to residents.
Activists argue that the towers will add pressure to a city already struggling with housing shortages, energy demands, and the effects of climate change. They want officials to rethink how and where such facilities are built.
City officials have defended the ban, saying it gives Amsterdam time to plan for future growth without placing too much strain on its infrastructure. But critics say the rules came too late and do little to stop projects that were approved years earlier.
The protest on Friday is likely to add to the pressure on both Microsoft and the city. Activists say they will continue to campaign until the project is stopped or significantly changed.
In July, the climate group Extinction Rebellion threw balloons over the fence. The group said they contained acid and other chemicals intended to weaken the concrete. Pure Data Centres said police were investigating the incident.
Geef Tegengas has also targeted Microsoft over its links to Israel. In August 2025, activists climbed onto the roof of a Microsoft data center near Middenmeer, north of Amsterdam. They accused the company of allowing Israeli military intelligence to use its cloud services to store phone calls belonging to Palestinians. The claim followed reporting by The Guardian. Microsoft said at the time that it had no information about the type of data being stored.
Friday’s protest came during a busy week of activism. On Tuesday, demonstrators set up a fake Israeli army checkpoint outside a Microsoft data center in Dublin. The Guardian reported a wave of protests against data centers across Europe this week.
In the United States, voters in this week’s midterm elections also pushed back against the expansion of data centers in several areas. Many residents worry that the enormous facilities place pressure on local power grids, water supplies, and housing markets.
Microsoft has faced other setbacks involving data centers as well. Last month, it abandoned plans for what would have been the largest data center in the United Kingdom after grid officials said the site would not receive power until the 2030s.
The company has also faced protests from its own employees. In 2025, workers disrupted Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary event to protest the use of its technology in Israel’s war against Hamas. One protester called Mustafa Suleyman, who leads Microsoft’s artificial intelligence division, a “war profiteer.”
Another employee interrupted a speech by Chief Executive Satya Nadella at a developer event last year. Months later, Microsoft dismissed two workers who occupied the office of its president.
