Data-centre protests spread across Europe as thousands march in Dublin and Helsinki

Nov 9, 2026
The Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition called for a moratorium on construction, with groups from Scotland to Spain joining Saturday's action.

Protests against data centres continued across Europe on Saturday, with about 2,000 people marching in Dublin and about 1,300 gathering in Helsinki, according to broadcasters RTE and YLE, Bloomberg reports via The Star. Demonstrations were also held in several smaller Finnish towns.

Representatives of Stop Dirty Data Centres, a coalition of local democracy and climate protest groups, said they aimed to "halt the unchecked expansion of artificial intelligence data centres". Campaign groups from Scotland to Spain and France to Denmark joined the action, calling for a moratorium on construction. The protests followed a demonstration in Amsterdam on Friday, when hundreds of protesters clashed with police at a Microsoft data centre, resulting in one arrest.

Data centres accounted for 23% of Ireland's metered electricity consumption in 2025. In Helsinki, demonstrators marched to Google's offices and to parliament. Google announced a €13 billion investment in Finland in September, and the company building one of its sites faces a criminal inquiry over land cleared before an environmental assessment. The government is preparing legislation to rein in the expansion.

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