Amsterdam’s famous Rijksmuseum was forced to close for several hours on Saturday after a protest by the Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate action group.
The museum reopened at around 3 pm (1300 GMT) after more than 30 XR members were arrested.
“The safety of the visitors, the staff and the art collection take priority,” a spokesman told Dutch news agency ANP. “Any action that jeopardizes this is unacceptable.”
Protesters dressed in yellow had earlier chained themselves to the museum’s entrance and lit yellow torches to prevent visitors from entering one of the Netherlands’ best-known cultural sites.
They said their aim was to force the museum to break ties with its main sponsor, the ING bank. XR accuses ING of being involved in financing projects that harm the climate.
The organization said the blockade would continue until its demands had been met.
However, police were able to cut the protesters’ chains and remove them from the premises.
The museum, which holds a large collection, including Rembrandt’s “Night Watch,” draws thousands of visitors from all over the world every day.
“It’s incomprehensible that the Rijksmuseum can allow itself to be financed by ING, the largest financial driver of the climate crisis,” an XR spokesman told ANP.
The spokesman said the museum was allowing a major polluter to “hide its face behind famous works of art from Dutch history,” he added.
An ING spokesman said: “If XR has a problem with ING’s financing policies, they should turn to us directly and not to the Rijksmuseum. We are always open to dialogue.”
XR has long campaigned against funding for what it terms the “fossil industry.” Among other actions, it has repeatedly blocked Amsterdam’s A10 ring road near the former ING headquarters.
