“It has to hurt first, only then will they take action,” a protester said as hundreds gathered.
Roughly 300 to 400 people demonstrated on the Vismarkt in Groningen on Sunday afternoon against the potential construction of two nuclear power plants in the Eemshaven, according to reporting by RTV Noord and Eye Groningen.
Organizers from the group Verenigd Front Kern(afval) Gezond originally planned the protest on the Grote Markt. The municipality moved the gathering to the Vismarkt because workers were setting up the Winterstad event on the central square, Eye Groningen reported.
The cabinet announced last summer that it is examining the Eemshaven and Terneuzen in Zeeland as prospective sites for two new reactors. Grid operator TenneT advised that the Groningen industrial port is technically the most suitable location for the infrastructure.
Danish and German authorities have formally rejected the Dutch nuclear expansion plans near their borders. Officials in Lower Saxony and nearby German municipalities argue that the project contradicts the region’s investments in renewable energy.
“We are a model region for renewable energy, and precisely there they want to build a nuclear power plant,” said Tim Kruithoff, mayor of the German border municipality of Emden, as reported by the German broadcaster NDR and cited by US. Several demonstrators traveled from the North Sea island of Borkum to the mainland carrying a skeleton inside a coffin to protest the plans.
Protesters marched under the slogan “Genog is genog, Den Haag!” to voice their frustration over the cabinet’s proposals. Many residents fear that Groningen will face fresh burdens following decades of misery caused by regional gas extraction and subsequent earthquakes.
“The promise was: not in earthquake zone,” said Tjeerd Palstra, organizer with Verenigd Front Kern(afval) Gezond, according to Heart of the Netherlands. “Just when one problem hasn’t been solved yet, we get another one on top of it. Emotions are running high.”
Organizers originally scheduled the demonstration for the Grote Markt, but municipal authorities moved it to the Vismarkt because workers were setting up the Winterstad winter event, as detailed by Eye Groningen.
Groningen Seaports concluded that the Eemshaven is not a logical location because the construction can clash with existing plans for wind energy, hydrogen, and sustainable industry.
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