Nationwide protests call for temporary freeze on datacentre construction

Demonstrators across Finland protested data centre projects on Saturday afternoon, with marches in Helsinki, Lahti, Tampere, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Turku, according to YLE.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and the citizens' movement Elokapina organised the rallies, saying regulation has not kept pace with a wave of new datacentre announcements and demanding a temporary halt to construction. They want stronger rules to protect nature and the electricity grid.

In Helsinki the march began at 13:00, moving from Rautatientori along Arkadiankatu past Google's Helsinki office to the Parliament House. Police estimated about 1,300 people at 14:20 and said the event passed without incident.

Sakari Bister, one of the authors of the Datacentres under Control citizens' initiative, warned the projects threaten nature and electricity supply. He stressed the need to ensure the grid is not overwhelmed.

Participant Anna Sjövall called for a clear pause and binding rules to protect society and citizens, warning Finland must not become a "banana republic" for datacentres. The demonstrations form part of the Europe-wide Stop Dirty Data Centers campaign, and organisers said activists were arrested at a Microsoft datacentre site in Amsterdam on Friday.

In Tampere, demonstrators marched from Sorin aukio to Keskustori, continuing local opposition and echoing calls for a freeze on datacentre construction in an earlier Tampere demonstration.