, Nov. 7 -- Protesters broke into a construction site for a new Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam on Friday, with some climbing a crane and setting off flares, while others clashed with police amid growing opposition to large-scale data centre projects across Europe.

Nathan Timmer of the protest group Geef Tegengas, meaning Push Back, told local broadcaster AT5 that demonstrators had occupied the site to prevent construction from continuing.

Activists across Europe planned demonstrations and other actions on Friday and Saturday, demanding a halt to large-scale data centre developments over concerns about their environmental and social impacts, particularly their heavy consumption of electricity and water.

"We don't want it to be built...