Over 1,500 arrested during climate protest in the Hague

The number of activists arrested during a climate protest in the Hague on Saturday rose from an initial several hundred to over 1,579, according to Dutch police.

Only one of the arrested was still in custody on Sunday. He is accused of biting an officer.

According to the public prosecutor's office, a total of 48 participants are being investigated for criminal offences, including insult, damage to property and obstruction of traffic.

Investigations against the other temporarily arrested persons will not take place, the law enforcement agency decided.

On Saturday, members of the climate action group Extinction Rebellion blocked the A12 motorway not far from the Binnenhof in the Hague, where the government and the parliament are seated, to call for an end to fossil fuel subsidies.

It was the seventh time the activists sought to block the motorway.

Several thousand people joined the protest, according to estimates.

According to the ANP news agency, the police used a water cannon to prevent the demonstrators from blocking the motorway.

Officials intervened earlier this time than in previous Extinction Rebellion protest actions. The Hague's city administration had previously warned demonstrators that blocking the motorway was strictly prohibited.

According to ANP, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was "absurd" that climate activists blocked the A12 despite an explicit ban by the mayor of The Hague. They should therefore not complain about the use of a water cannon. It was "their own fault."