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Dutch protests scrapped after fossil fuel vote / Photo: © ANP/AFP
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Dutch protests scrapped after fossil fuel vote
Environmental pressure group Extinction Rebellion said Tuesday it was ending its daily blockade of a major motorway in The Hague, after Dutch MPs voted to examine ways of scrapping fossil fuel subsidies.
"Civil disobedience works," the group said in a statement following 27 consecutive days of blocking the A12, a major artery into The Hague, resulting in regular confrontations with police.
A majority of Dutch MPs earlier requested Prime Minister Mark Rutte's outgoing government to come up with a concrete plan to phase out subsidies to fossil fuel industries, estimated at between 39.7 to 46.4 billion euros ($42-49.5 billion).
"Although fossil subsidies have not yet been abolished, the significance of this step cannot be underestimated," said XR spokeswoman Tessel Hofstede.
A routine had taken hold in The Hague, with protesters blocking the road daily at noon, to be removed eventually by police who sprayed them with water cannon.
Demonstrators deployed umbrellas to shield themselves from the water and wore swimming costumes, when the Dutch weather allowed.
Thousands were briefly arrested, only to return the next day, although numbers dwindled from the initial protests in early September that attracted some 25,000 people.
"Of course, we'll look carefully at what happens from here," said XR. "If politics fails again, we will be back with even greater force."
N.Son--SG
