AMSTERDAM — About 60 environment activists blockaded the entrance to the Transport Ministry on Thursday morning to protest against the closure of several bus routes due to public transport budget cuts.

The activists, members of Milieudefensie, or Environment Defence, used bus shelters and signposts taken from the closed bus routes to block the entrance from 7.30am, preventing public servants from starting work.  

Several activists also chained themselves to the door, but the protest action was called off at about 10.30am and the public servants were allowed inside.

The activists said the Cabinet had left commuters in the cold. In protest, the activists said they decided to do the same to the public servants.

The public servants were served coffee, however, in the bus shelters. Police were called to the scene, but did not intervene to end the protest, NOS reported.

The government has embarked on a massive cost cutting exercise to inject new health into State coffers, but the activists claim that economizing on city and regional public transport will be a “disaster for travellers” on a nation-wide basis.

[Copyright Expatica News 2003]

Subject: Dutch news