AMSTERDAM: Environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined tens of thousands in the "biggest ever” climate march through Amsterdam Sunday, aimed at pushing the climate crisis up the political agenda 10 days ahead of crunch national elections.
Carrying placards reading: "Our house is on fire”, "In 2050: ‘Daddy, what are trees?’”, and "Climate Justice Now,” demonstrators packed into Amsterdam’s central square and set off through the streets. Around 70,000 people took part, smashing previous records for such a march said organizers, a coalition of pressure groups, including Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, Oxfam, and Greenpeace.
"With the crises continuing to stack up and a measly six years to achieve the Dutch climate goals in 2030, the upcoming elections are the most crucial ever,” they said in a joint statement. Polls show the election is currently a dead heat between the center-right VVD of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and a new party, the NSC, led by anti-corruption champion Pieter Omtzigt.
A coalition of the Greens and the leftist PvdA is sitting in third place, according to the polls. This party is led by former European Commission heavyweight Frans Timmermans, the architect of the EU’s Green Deal agenda. Surveys show the key issues of the election campaign have been the ongoing housing crisis in the Netherlands, living standards, and immigration.
According to the most recent poll by I&O research, climate change came in fifth of the issues on voters’ minds, behind housing, healthcare, immigration, and poverty. Climate change is now considered less of a key topic than was the case at the last election in 2021, according to the I&O research poll. – AFP