Around 45,000 climate protesters marched in The Hague to demand political action on climate change ahead of the Netherlands election
THE HAGUE: Tens of thousands of climate protesters marched in The Hague on Sunday to elevate climate change on the political agenda days before a Dutch election dominated by immigration and housing issues.
Demonstrators brandishing banners with messages like “The Planet Deserves Your Vote”, “Vote Green”, and “Make Earth Cool Again” filled a central park before parading through the city.
Organisers estimated the attendance of the climate march at approximately 45,000 people.
Daan Zieren, a 23-year-old who runs a youth climate movement, expressed concern about the lack of climate policy discussion in the Netherlands.
“I think there is a lot of concern about climate policy in the Netherlands,” Zieren told AFP.
“You see that parties aren’t talking about it at all, even those that used to talk about it a lot,” he added.
A recent survey by Eenvandaag indicated climate was far down the priority list for voters ahead of the October 29 elections.
Climate ranked 11th out of 12 priority areas in last month’s poll that surveyed 25,000 voters who were asked to pick their top five concerns from 25 topics.
Only 19% of voters placed climate in their top five priorities while housing led at 58%, followed by immigration at 44%, and healthcare at 40%.
Zieren expressed hope that the march would prompt political parties to address climate issues more seriously.
“We hope that all the parties realise they can’t get around the climate issue any more and that today gets a response from everybody,” he said.
Volunteer worker Marijn Roorda attended the protest dressed as a polar bear to highlight how these animals’ habitats are suffering from climate change.
The 47-year-old voiced frustration about the absence of climate change from the election campaign.
“A lot of parties don’t actually care about the environment any more,” Roorda told AFP.
“There are even parties that are denying (climate change) is happening,” he added.
Roorda noted that while many people, especially youth, are concerned about climate, political fatigue is widespread.
“I think a lot of people are concerned about climate, especially young people, but a lot of people are tired of politics,” he said.
“Nothing is happening, nothing is changing, and we want to see a change,” Roorda concluded. – AFP
