Lucas Winnips (47) is one of the arrested Extinction Rebellion activists. He was handcuffed by police last week after dropping his son off at school. ,,Unknown.”
On Thursday morning, the police were at the door of seven activists. Six have been arrested and are currently in custody. A seventh was not at home. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the activists are guilty of sedition because they called on social media to block the A12 on Saturday. The Public Prosecution Service previously stated that blocking the A12 is an illegal action and leads to dangerous situations.
Exactly a week earlier, Lucas Winnips was also arrested. He is one of the spokespersons for Extinction Rebellion (XR) and had called on social media to come to the A12. When he heard the news Thursday morning, he thought back to his own arrest a week earlier. “I had just brought my youngest son to school on the cargo bike. On the way there I saw a man looking at me. Then for a moment I thought: what is this? Then the same man came cycling next to me and said: ‘Stop, police. You’ve been arrested.’ At the same time, a car with plainclothes officers pulled up behind us. Under the watchful eye of neighbors and children, my hands were handcuffed behind my back and I was then put in the car.”
Under the watchful eye of neighbors and children, my hands were handcuffed behind my back and I was then put in the car
29th arrest
The Extinction Rebellion (XR) spokesperson disagrees with how the police are handling this. “If they want to talk to me, I will come. Because I stand by what I say and certainly don’t walk away from it. I find this completely disproportionate.” He says he is used to being arrested, last week was the 29th time. But normally that is during demonstrations, not in his private environment. “I don’t think that’s possible. It was especially bad for my family.”
Winnips, like the other detainees, had called on social media to occupy the A12 on Saturday and to make their voices heard non-violently. It is not known why he was arrested earlier.
The aim of the blockade on the A12 is to put an end to the ‘annual 17.5 billion euros fossil subsidies’. As a result of last week, the activist received an area ban for the part of the A12 where the blockade will take place on Saturday. However, he wants that ban to go off the table and is filing summary proceedings, which will be brought before the court in The Hague on Friday.
Support
After the arrest, Winnips received a lot of support, he says. Neighbors came by and cards and chocolate bars were delivered. Also spoke the human rights reporter of the United Nations about the arrest in Castricum. He tweeted “to be shocked that the Netherlands would arrest a climate activist on serious charges, solely for organizing a protest action.”
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