Hague organisations join hands in protest against Shell's influence in municipality

DEN HAAG - This Monday, several organisations in The Hague are organising a protest against Shell CEO Marjan van Loon joining The Hague Economic Board (THEB). With her taking office, Van Loon was due to give advice on energy transition within the municipality.

The organisations The Hague Fossil-Free, DWARS Leiden-Haaglanden and other local political youth organisations find this a worrying development. They fear that the partisanship of the new member will hamper the energy transition. "Shell puts its own corporate interest first," said Stein Smit, chairman of the Hague branch of the GroenLinks youth DWARS. "And this corporate interest is at odds with striving for an energy transition and working towards a sustainable The Hague."

The protest, which will take place between 8 and 10 in the morning, will ask officials to climb over an inflatable oil pipe to enter city hall. In addition, officials can take a photo with a sign 'I work for The Hague, not for Shell' and share with the hashtag #Ikwerkniet voorShell.